Report

Straight to the Source

The Top Cities Where Crime Guns Originate and How Local Leaders Can Take Action

4.29.2026

Executive Summary

The vast majority of guns that end up used in violent crime begin as part of the legal inventory of a licensed gun dealer.¹ Gun dealers therefore play a significant role in preventing the trafficking of these legal guns into illegal markets, where they are too often used to perpetrate violent crimes by people who were prohibited from buying them. There are a number of basic, common-sense measures that gun dealers can take to prevent trafficking from their stores. But with the federal government diverting already scarce resources away from conducting effective oversight of gun dealers, the burden now falls to state and local leaders to fill the gap and take steps to prevent the gun trafficking that is fueling violence in their communities.

This report presents a first-of-its-kind analysis of the cities that are home to dealers supplying high numbers of crime guns nationally, along with recommendations for local leaders to take action. This list provides a starting point for local leaders to begin to identify the problematic gun dealers in their communities that are enabling gun trafficking and take action to stop crime guns at the source.

Key Takeaways

25 cities were the source of 209,748 crime guns from 2017 to 2021, accounting for 14 percent of all crime guns recovered and traced during this period. Many of these guns showed signs of illegal trafficking.¹
Many of the crime guns purchased in these cities were likely used in violent crime locally. According to ATF research, in each of the states where these cities are located, at least half of all crime guns recovered were originally sold by a dealer within 25 miles.²
There is no clear pattern that can explain away the cities on this list. Neither population size nor number of gun dealers fully explain why these particular cities are top suppliers of crime guns nationwide. The answer to the question of why these particular cities are responsible for so many crime guns likely lies with a small number of bad actor gun dealers operating within each one.
The Trump administration has jeopardized federal efforts to prevent gun trafficking by diverting law enforcement resources and weakening dealer oversight activities. This will make it more difficult to identify the dealers that are providing guns to traffickers and embolden criminals engaging in this dangerous conduct.
Local leaders in these cities—and in any locality where gun dealers are operating—can take action to fill the gap left by the Trump administration by (1) collecting comprehensive data on crime guns, (2) using crime gun intelligence to identify the dealers most responsible for enabling gun trafficking, (3) holding bad actor gun dealers who supply traffickers accountable, (4) working with gun dealers to recognize the signs of suspicious sales and prevent trafficking, and (5) adopting procurement policies that ensure government funds do not support bad actor gun dealers.

Introduction

On August 16, 2020, someone pulled the trigger on a Glock 17 pistol during a shooting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Two days later, undercover ATF agents bought that same weapon from W.G., a convicted felon prohibited from possessing firearms.¹

The trail led investigators to John Chavez and to BMC Tactical, an area gun dealer. Evidence revealed that Chavez had purchased the Glock just over 90 days prior, and that BMC Tactical had sold him three other Glocks in the same transaction. It was one of at least seven times in two months BMC Tactical had sold firearms to Chavez. And just down the street, JCT Firearms had done even more business with him, 18 guns in less than a year. Chavez admitted to law enforcement that these were “straw purchases,” or sales in which a person violates the law by purchasing a gun for someone else. In this case, Chavez was purchasing firearms for an individual known to him as “El Chapo,” a local drug dealer and violent gang member who was unable to buy guns himself because of his criminal background and history of drug use. A JCT Firearms employee later interviewed by law enforcement stated that one or two people would wait outside the store for Chavez during purchases, and that he “always knew what he wanted and had cash in hand.”²

The Chavez case was not an isolated incident. Investigative reporting found that JCT Firearms and BMC Tactical together accounted for at least 85 of the more than 100 guns bought and illegally resold in federal straw purchasing cases in Albuquerque since 2015.³ Digging into the press reports and court records of these criminal cases revealed a pattern of red flags at the two stores:

JCT Firearms sold Joe Velasquez 25 firearms between April 2018 and May 2021, who was an “unofficial employee” at the store.⁴ Velasquez later admitted to having re-sold the firearms as an unlicensed dealer.
BMC Tactical sold 25 guns to Larry Archuleta between May 2020 and January 2022.⁵ Over 22 separate purchases, Archuleta bought multiple handguns of the same or similar makes and models, and later admitted to law enforcement that he was buying the guns for one of his gang associates.
On March 16, 2022, Martin Martinez browsed firearms at BMC Tactical accompanied by Christopher Fox, a convicted felon with a prior drug conviction.⁶ Fox pointed to a specific pistol that he wanted Martinez to purchase for him and they went to the counter together to complete the sale. Thirty-three days later, on April 18, 2022, Albuquerque police found Fox in possession of the pistol, along with an extended magazine, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and approximately 40 rounds of ammunition.

Taken together, each of these sales showed at least one obvious sign of being straw purchases: multiple sales of similar firearms, purchases by the same individual within a short time period, payments in cash, and purchases directed by another person.

These two gun dealers were the starting point for a significant number of guns that were diverted into illegal markets from their inventory—contributing to Albuquerque’s spot on the list of top sources of crime guns.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of guns are recovered in connection with crime across the country, 96 percent of which originated from a purchase from the inventory of a licensed gun dealer (known as Federal Firearms Licensees or FFLs).³ A significant portion of these guns show signs of having been illegally trafficked—meaning that they were moved from the legal market to illegal markets for a criminal purpose. A recent Everytown analysis estimates that by the end of 2026, 1.27 million guns will have been illegally trafficked since 2017.⁴ Gun trafficking is a serious public safety threat, as trafficked guns are destined for use in violent crime. Data show trafficked guns are used to arm individuals who cannot legally purchase guns and are used in twice as many shootings as guns that are not trafficked.⁵

Identifying exactly where crime guns are coming from is a key first step in preventing illegal gun trafficking. Unfortunately, Congress has made it unnecessarily difficult for local policymakers and the public to know which dealers in their community are most responsible for crime guns. While the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is able to publish annual aggregate data on crime guns, including the total number of crime guns sold by licensed dealers in each state,⁶ it is prevented from disclosing specific crime gun trace information except to law enforcement for limited purposes. Since 2003, annual riders attached to U.S. Department of Justice appropriation bills have limited ATF’s use of appropriated funds to disclose most of this important data to policymakers and the public—rendering communities purposefully blind to the local gun dealers most responsible for supplying the guns used in violent crime.⁷

To be sure, ATF’s annual release of aggregate data identifying the top source states of crime guns has allowed researchers and policymakers to identify some trends in the illegal movement of guns and propose legislative solutions to help prevent trafficking. But aggregate state-level trace data only allows for a limited analysis of crime gun recovery and gun trafficking. Within a state, there may be significant variation from city to city in terms of gun trafficking activity. In order to identify the actual sources of crime guns—the dealers who are making the original retail sales—more localized data is needed.

In this report, we offer a first-of-its-kind analysis of the top source cities of crime guns in the country. This analysis offers a new perspective on where crime guns are coming from and provides a starting point for state and local leaders to focus investigative and oversight resources on the gun dealers responsible for selling them. We also offer recommendations for actions that can be taken in all localities where gun dealers are operating to better identify the sources of crime guns—the small number of dealers who are enabling gun trafficking—and hold them accountable.

Top 25 Crime Gun Source Cities

For the first time, we have limited access to data on the cities that are the primary sources of crime guns in the U.S. Beginning in 2021, ATF partnered with a team of academic experts to examine firearm commerce, crime guns, and trafficking in a four-volume study called the National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment (NFCTA).⁸ Volume Two of the NFCTA focuses on crime guns recovered and traced during domestic and international criminal investigations and includes individual reports for each state and 73 cities that provide detailed information on crime guns recovered in those jurisdictions for the period 2017 to 2021. These state and city reports include the top five source cities of crime guns per state and the total number of crime guns that were originally sold in each city.⁹ Compiling and combining this data from each NFCTA state and city report, we identified the top 25 source cities of crime guns traced nationwide during this period. Gun dealers in these cities were responsible for selling 209,748 crime guns during this period, accounting for 14 percent of all crime guns recovered and traced.¹⁰

Top 25 Crime Gun Source Cities, 2017–2021

Source City	Total Crime Guns Recovered and Traced, 2017–2021¹¹
Houston, TX	22,799
Las Vegas, NV	15,944
Phoenix, AZ	14,612
Memphis, TN	12,966
San Antonio, TX	12,875
Jacksonville, FL	11,014
Tucson, AZ	9,595
Louisville, KY	8,484
Indianapolis, IN	8,347
Columbus, OH	7,667
Jonesboro, GA	7,592
Dallas, TX	7,526
Tampa, FL	6,742
Philadelphia, PA	6,411
Baton Rouge, LA	6,312
Columbia, SC	6,063
Miami, FL	5,819
Orlando, FL	5,404
Albuquerque, NM	5,267
Charlotte, NC	5,226
St. Louis, MO	5,048
Mesa, AZ	4,879
Tulsa, OK	4,677
Cincinnati, OH	4,318
Wichita, KS	4,161

There is no clear pattern that can explain away the cities on this list. Neither population size¹² nor number of gun dealers¹³ fully explain why these particular cities are supplying so many crime guns nationwide. The answer to the question of why so many crime guns originate in these cities likely lies with a small number of bad actor gun dealers operating within each one.

One city on this list stands out as an outlier across all possible variables and perfectly illustrates how a single corrupt gun dealer can have a major impact on crime guns and gun trafficking in a community. Jonesboro, Georgia, is a small city with an adult population of just 4,000, making it the 6,484th largest city in the U.S. from 2017 to 2021. It was also home to relatively few licensed gun dealers, with an average of 9 active dealers each year during this period. Yet Jonesboro ranked 11th overall in the nation for the number of crime guns originating from this city. Jonesboro’s place on this list is likely the fault of one notorious gun dealer located in the city during this period: Arrowhead Pawn & Jewelry.

Arrowhead Pawn became a major supplier of crime guns in the mid-2000s: Between 2006 and 2010, authorities reportedly traced more than 1,700 crime guns back to Arrowhead Pawn, making it the fifth-largest source of crime guns in the country during that period. In 2009, the New York City Police Department labeled it as the top out-of-state supplier of the city’s crime guns, and in 2014, a firearm used to kill two NYPD officers was traced back to the store. Over the years, Arrowhead Pawn received numerous citations and warnings from ATF for violating federal law, yet Arrowhead Pawn refused to take those warnings seriously, telling ATF in 2016 that employees were too “busy” and “got distracted by other customers” to properly conduct sales. Arrowhead Pawn finally went out of business in 2023 following increased scrutiny by ATF.

Top Crime Gun Source Cities Also Show Signs of Trafficking

There is evidence that many of the crime guns sourced from these cities were illegally trafficked. One key indicator that a firearm has been trafficked is its “time-to-crime” (TTC), which measures the time between when that firearm was purchased from a licensed gun dealer and when it was recovered in connection with a crime. Law enforcement generally considers a TTC of less than three years to be indicative of firearm trafficking, with a shorter TTC increasing the likelihood that the purchaser initially purchased the firearm with the intent to use in a crime or traffic it to someone who could not legally purchase it.¹⁴ Another key sign of trafficking is when a crime gun is recovered in the possession of someone other than the original purchaser.¹⁵

In the city-specific reports published as part of the NFCTA (which include 23 of the top 25 source cities), we can look at these two trafficking indicators for nearly all of the top source cities.¹⁶ Crime gun recoveries sourced to guns purchased in every city where this data is available show at least one of these signs of trafficking and all but three show signs of both.

Trafficking Indicators for Crime Guns from Source Cities, 2017–2021

Source City	Median TTC (years)	% Where Possessor and Purchaser Are Same Individual
Houston, TX	1.9	7.3
Las Vegas, NV	2.2	12.8
Phoenix, AZ	1.4	8.7
Memphis, TN	1.4	11.7
San Antonio, TX	1.9	10.2
Jacksonville, FL	3.4	14.8
Tucson, AZ	2.6	12.5
Louisville, KY	1.9	12.2
Indianapolis, IN	2.4	10.5
Columbus, OH	2.4	11.7
Jonesboro, GA	N/A	N/A
Dallas, TX	2.3	12.3
Tampa, FL	3.0	13.4
Philadelphia, PA	1.8	9.6
Baton Rouge, LA	2.5	9.6
Columbia, SC	1.7	9.7
Miami, FL	4.2	13.3
Orlando, FL	2.4	12.3
Albuquerque, NM	N/A	N/A
Charlotte, NC	1.7	15.6
St. Louis, MO	1.3	15.9
Mesa, AZ	3.3	8.3
Tulsa, OK	2.6	2.4
Cincinnati, OH	1.8	16.7
Wichita, KS	2.4	9.7

In addition to the 2017–2021 data from the NFCTA used to create this list of top 25 source cities, there is more recent data suggesting that these cities continue to be home to problematic gun dealers. Beginning in 2000, ATF has issued letters to licensed gun dealers who have a high number of short TTC crime guns traced to their store—most recently 25 or more in one year¹⁷—putting them on notice that their store was a likely target for traffickers and requiring them to provide additional information to ATF about some of their sales. This requirement was enacted as part of an overall plan by then-President Clinton to combat illegal firearm trafficking and hold the industry accountable. The announcement from the White House explained the purpose of the requirement: “While many gun dealers linked to large numbers of crime guns may be in full compliance with the law, the quick or frequent diversion of guns to illegal markets from those dealers is cause for serious concern.”¹⁸ Researchers with Brady’s Combatting Crime Guns Initiative obtained the name and location of the dealers who met this requirement, known as “Demand Letter 2,” in each year from 2021 through 2024 through a Freedom of Information Act request.¹⁹ Every city on the list of top 25 source cities from the NFCTA research had at least one licensed gun dealer subject to a Demand Letter 2 in at least one year from 2021 through 2024.²⁰ Looking across all dealers who were in business between 2017 and 2021, are still in business as of January 2026, and were recently subject to a Demand Letter 2, we were able to create a list of 155 licensed dealers in these 25 cities who may warrant a closer look by law enforcement or regulatory authorities.²¹ Unfortunately, the Trump administration quietly ended the Demand Letter 2 program in 2025, which will make it more difficult going forward to use this data to identify potential bad actor gun dealers.

Gun Dealers Play a Key Role in Preventing Gun Trafficking

Because the vast majority of guns that end up trafficked and used in crime start out as part of the legal inventory of a licensed gun dealer, dealers play a vital role in preventing the illegal diversion of guns into criminal markets. ATF has identified three primary methods of gun trafficking: straw purchasing, unlicensed dealing, and theft from gun dealers.²² Gun dealers have a responsibility to prevent trafficking via each method. As the United States Supreme Court has explained, discussing the Gun Control Act, licensed dealers have the responsibility to “[e]nsure that, in the course of sales or other dispositions . . . , weapons [are not] obtained by individuals whose possession of them would be contrary to the public interest.”²³ Dealers are well aware of their responsibilities in this area, receiving education and training on how to identify and prevent gun trafficking from both ATF and leading industry trade associations.²⁴

Straw purchasing and unlicensed dealing both involve purchases from a licensed dealer that often show obvious signs of illegal activity. Straw purchasing occurs when someone buys a firearm for someone else, usually someone who is prohibited from purchasing a firearm. When engaging in a straw purchase, the buyer lies on a federally required form by indicating that they are buying the firearm for themself when in reality they are purchasing it for someone else.²⁵ Under federal law, it is illegal both to buy a firearm on behalf of someone who is prohibited from possessing one and to lie on the required paperwork.²⁶ Unlicensed dealing involves an individual buying and selling firearms for profit, but without first obtaining the required federal license from ATF to do so, enabling these individuals to sell firearms without running background checks on their buyers. Like straw purchasers, individuals engaged in unlicensed dealing also lie on the purchase paperwork in stating that they are the actual buyer when they intend to resell the guns. Unlicensed dealing is a crime under federal law.²⁷

There are a number of obvious signs of straw purchasing and unlicensed dealing that are often readily apparent to responsible gun dealers:²⁸

Suspicious purchasing patterns, such as:
- Bulk purchases by the same buyer, either all at once or over a short period of time
- Repeat purchases of the same or similar models of firearms
- Large cash payments
- Sudden frequent purchasing by a buyer with few or no previous firearms purchases
- Recovery of one or more of the buyer’s purchased firearms by law enforcement, particularly when they have a short TTC
Signs that the buyer is not the true purchaser, including coordination between the buyer and a third party, such as:
- The buyer coordinating and/or consulting with another individual in the store as to which firearms to select, the completion of federally required forms, payment, or other aspects of the sale
- The buyer taking or sending cell phone photos of firearms
- The buyer talking on the phone or texting while looking at the firearms for sale

There are also basic, common-sense security measures gun dealers can implement to prevent theft that are recommended by ATF:²⁹

Installing a monitored alarm system
Securing firearms when the store is closed
Storing firearms securely when the store is open for business, except when under the direct supervision of the dealer or an employee
Implementing video surveillance
Installing physical security measures, such as door and window bars, pull-down gates, and concrete balusters
Ensuring that the exterior of the premises have sufficient lighting

Certainly dealers cannot be expected to spot every transaction that results in gun trafficking or prevent every theft; however, neither should they be allowed to turn a blind eye to obvious illegal activity. Indeed, they are legally required to stop unlawful sales: It is a violation of federal law for a licensed dealer to complete a sale if they know or have reasonable cause to believe the buyer is a straw purchaser.³⁰ By being vigilant to the obvious signs of suspicious sales and implementing basic security measures, dealers can go a long way to ensuring that they are not putting their city on this list of national top crime gun suppliers.

Local Leaders Should Take Action to Prevent Gun Trafficking in Their Communities

A city’s placement on the list of top 25 source cities for crime guns should be concerning to local leaders. Not only are gun dealers in these cities fueling gun violence around the country, but many of the crime guns being sold in these cities are likely being used in violent crime locally. According to the NFCTA state reports, in each of the states where these cities are located, at least half of all crime guns recovered in the state were originally sold by a dealer within 25 miles and nearly a third of the crime guns recovered in these states were recovered within 10 miles of where they were purchased.³¹ While gun trafficking is usually thought of as an issue of guns crossing state or national borders, in reality, crime guns often don’t travel far after purchase and gun trafficking often involves moving guns short distances within a community.

Local leaders should start by taking a close look at the licensed gun dealers operating in these cities. Because of the federal restrictions on access to detailed trace data identifying which FFLs in these cities are the primary sellers of crime guns, it is more difficult for local leaders to know which dealers should receive additional scrutiny. However, one place to start is to use the limited publicly available data to narrow down the dealers in these cities that may warrant a closer look. We used three relevant factors to create a list of such gun dealers in Appendix 3: gun dealers that (1) had an active federal firearms license during the period from 2017 through 2021, (2) still had an active license as of January 2026, and (3) have been subject to ATF’s Demand Letter 2 program for at least one year between 2021 and 2024.

A number of cities have started to take action to identify the gun dealers most responsible for supplying crime guns in their community and hold them accountable. For example, in 2020, the City of Kansas City filed a lawsuit against a number of gun dealers, alleging that they were facilitating straw purchasing for a gun trafficking ring. As a result of this lawsuit, one of the local dealers closed its business and another agreed to implement a series of business practices designed to enable the identification and prevention of straw purchasing and gun trafficking.³² In 2021, the City of Chicago filed a lawsuit against Westforth Sports, Inc., a gun dealer in Indiana, alleging that it had engaged in a pattern of negligently and unlawfully selling firearms to individuals that it knew were engaged in straw purchasing and unlicensed dealing in firearms.³³ While this litigation was pending, Westforth Sports announced that it was closing shop and going out of business.³⁴

Regulating the gun industry and ensuring that dealers are not facilitating gun trafficking has long been a federal function and one of the primary responsibilities of ATF. Until recently, ATF was making significant progress in targeting gun traffickers and the dealers that supply them. In June 2021, ATF announced a new “zero-tolerance” policy under which the agency moved to revoke the licenses of gun dealers who willfully violated certain federal laws.³⁵ Under this policy, ATF revoked (or caused the surrender of) the licenses of 41 gun dealers operating in these 25 top source cities between 2021 and 2024 for willful violations of the law, 39 of which were in business at some point between 2017 and 2021.³⁶ While these cities were home to only 4 percent of all federally licensed gun dealers during this period, they accounted for nearly 9 percent of all license revocations or surrenders.³⁷ Unfortunately, the Trump administration reversed this strong enforcement policy and has taken other actions to weaken the federal government’s oversight of gun dealers, including shifting resources away from gun trafficking investigations and proposing a drastic budget cut that would render the agency unable to conduct effective oversight of gun dealers.³⁸ This leaves a dangerous vacuum that will embolden traffickers and the dealers that supply them.

It is therefore crucial for state and local leaders to step into the void created by this federal rollback and adopt policies and enforcement plans that can help prevent trafficking and hold all culpable actors accountable. In December 2025, Everytown released a report providing a detailed series of recommendations for how states can help preventing gun trafficking by adopting a comprehensive strategy that includes: (1) using data to identify and interrupt trafficking, (2) implementing robust regulatory oversight of gun dealers, and (3) enacting foundational gun safety laws that deter trafficking.

There are also key steps local leaders should take in all jurisdictions where gun dealers are operating to prevent gun trafficking in their communities:

Collect Data through Comprehensive Crime Gun Tracing and Ballistics Evidence. Law enforcement should:
- Engage in comprehensive tracing for all crime guns recovered through ATF’s eTrace platform (which enables investigators to understand the origin and history of a gun used in a crime);
- Opt in to eTrace’s data sharing feature to allow for data to be shared across jurisdictions; and
- Make robust use of the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) for all recovered crime guns and fired cartridge casings.³⁹
  
  These practices ensure that all available data about crime guns and gun trafficking is being collected and is available for analysis.
Use Crime Gun Intelligence to Identify Bad Actor Gun Dealers. Law enforcement should analyze trace data to determine which dealers are responsible for selling high numbers of trafficked crime guns in these cities, focusing on the percentage of crime gun trace requests to each dealer and average TTC for trace requests. While this may seem like a daunting task in a city with hundreds of licensed gun dealers, ATF research suggests that only a small subset of all licensed dealers—roughly one-fifth—are actually driving most retail sales and are therefore responsible for the sale of most crime guns.⁴⁰ This results in a much more manageable number of dealers for investigation and oversight and a more targeted list than the one able to be compiled based on the limited data that is publicly available.
Hold Bad Actor Gun Dealers Accountable. Law enforcement should conduct criminal investigations into gun dealers who are breaking the law and make referrals to federal law enforcement agencies when appropriate. In states that have enacted laws that provide state regulatory oversight over gun dealers, local leaders should coordinate with the regulatory authorities to ensure that the dealers in these top source cities receive the strongest appropriate oversight to ensure full compliance with state and federal laws. Local leaders should also consider civil litigation against gun dealers who blatantly violate the law and jeopardize community safety by facilitating obvious straw purchases and other unlawful sales.
Engage with Local Gun Dealers to Prevent Trafficking. In addition to accountability measures, local leaders should proactively engage with the dealers most responsible for selling crime guns. This should include following up each time there is a short TTC trace, providing regular education about how to identify and prevent suspicious sales, and offering guidance on security measures to prevent theft.
Adopt Procurement Policies that Ensure Government Funds Do Not Support Bad Actor Gun Dealers. Local leaders should adopt procurement policies to ensure that law enforcement agencies are only purchasing firearms and ammunition from licensed gun dealers that are in compliance with all federal, state, and local laws and have taken measures to prevent gun trafficking. This type of procurement policy should take into account crime gun trace data (particularly the number of short TTC guns sold by a dealer) and information from any federal or state compliance inspections, including any violations found. The policy should also consider whether a gun dealer has adopted practices or policies to prevent, detect, and screen for straw purchases; prevent sales to prohibited individuals; protect against theft; train employees to ensure compliance with all local, state, and federal laws; and assist law enforcement in the prevention of criminal access to firearms.

Conclusion

Local leaders have made huge strides in reducing violent crime in cities across the country, even in the face of restrictive federal laws that limit access to key trace data and the Trump administration’s withdrawal from crucial crime reduction strategies. However, gun violence remains unacceptably high in many communities and in these cities that are home to dealers supplying large numbers of crime guns there is more that can be done to identify bad actor gun dealers and shut off gun trafficking pipelines. The data in this report can begin to help focus attention and resources on the dealers in these cities most responsible for supplying the guns used in violent crimes who turn a blind eye to their role in this national crisis.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Top 25 Crime Gun Source Cities with Population Data, 2017–2021

Source City	Total Crime Guns Recovered and Traced, 2017–2021⁴¹	Estimated Adult Population (18+ years), 2017–2021⁴²	Population Rank (18+ years)	Rate per 100k residents (18+ years)
Houston, TX	22,799	1,723,969	4	264.5
Las Vegas, NV	15,944	481,788	28	661.9
Phoenix, AZ	14,612	1,192,748	6	245.0
Memphis, TN	12,966	486,453	26	533.1
San Antonio, TX	12,875	1,112,672	8	231.4
Jacksonville, FL	11,014	689,816	13	319.3
Tucson, AZ	9,595	425,412	33	451.1
Louisville, KY	8,484	480,027	30	353.5
Indianapolis, IN	8,347	651,471	15	256.3
Columbus, OH	7,667	680,137	14	225.5
Jonesboro, GA	7,592	3,965	6,484	38,293.2
Dallas, TX	7,526	987,056	9	152.5
Tampa, FL	6,742	299,474	49	450.3
Philadelphia, PA	6,411	1,234,562	5	103.9
Baton Rouge, LA	6,312	176,641	96	714.7
Columbia, SC	6,063	111,969	187	1,083.0
Miami, FL	5,819	371,916	39	312.9
Orlando, FL	5,404	222,722	69	485.3
Albuquerque, NM	5,267	434,335	32	242.5
Charlotte, NC	5,226	650,797	16	160.6
St. Louis, MO	5,048	248,476	60	406.3
Mesa, AZ	4,879	375,641	37	259.8
Tulsa, OK	4,677	304,735	48	307.0
Cincinnati, OH	4,318	236,608	64	365.0
Wichita, KS	4,161	291,835	51	285.2

Appendix 2: Top 25 Source Cities Ranked by Number of Licensed Gun Dealers

Source City	National Rank By # Active FFLs (Yearly Average, 2017–2021)	# Active FFLs (Yearly Average, 2017–2021)⁴³	Rank by Total Crime Guns Recovered and Traced, 2017–2021	Total Crime Guns Recovered and Traced, 2017–2021
Houston, TX	1	431	1	22,799
Phoenix, AZ	2	296	3	14,612
San Antonio, TX	3	240	5	12,875
Tucson, AZ	4	216	7	9,595
Mesa, AZ	6	174	22	4,879
Las Vegas, NV	7	169	2	15,944
Albuquerque, NM	8	158	19	5,267
Jacksonville, FL	12	139	6	11,014
Miami, FL	14	128	17	5,819
Dallas, TX	17	122	12	7,526
Tulsa, OK	19	119	23	4,677
Louisville, KY	20	114	8	8,484
Orlando, FL	21	113	18	5,404
Wichita, KS	23	108	25	4,161
Tampa, FL	29	95	13	6,742
Cincinnati, OH	30	89	24	4,318
Charlotte, NC	38	76	20	5,226
Columbus, OH	43 (tie)	75	10	7,667
Indianapolis, IN	51	71	9	8,347
Baton Rouge, LA	58	66	15	6,312
St. Louis, MO	59	66	21	5,048
Memphis, TN	65 (tie)	64	4	12,966
Columbia, SC	114	49	16	6,063
Philadelphia, PA	778 (tie)	17	14	6,411
Jonesboro, GA	2,038 (tie)	9	11	7,592

Appendix 3: Gun dealers in source cities that were active during the period 2017–2021, are currently active as of January 2026, and were subject to Demand Letter 2 in recent years⁴⁴

View Appendix 3 in a new tab Download Appendix 3

Appendix 4: Federal Firearms License Revocations/Surrenders in Top 25 Source Cities, 2021–2024⁴⁵

View Appendix 4 in a new tab Download Appendix 4

Learn More:

Everytown Research & Policy is a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, an independent, non-partisan organization dedicated to understanding and reducing gun violence. Everytown Research & Policy works to do so by conducting methodologically rigorous research, supporting evidence-based policies, and communicating this knowledge to the American public.

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Straight to the Source

Executive Summary

Key Takeaways

Introduction

Top 25 Crime Gun Source Cities

Top 25 Crime Gun Source Cities, 2017–2021

Top Crime Gun Source Cities Also Show Signs of Trafficking

Trafficking Indicators for Crime Guns from Source Cities, 2017–2021

Gun Dealers Play a Key Role in Preventing Gun Trafficking

Local Leaders Should Take Action to Prevent Gun Trafficking in Their Communities

Conclusion

Appendices

Appendix 1: Top 25 Crime Gun Source Cities with Population Data, 2017–2021

Appendix 2: Top 25 Source Cities Ranked by Number of Licensed Gun Dealers

Appendix 3: Gun dealers in source cities that were active during the period 2017–2021, are currently active as of January 2026, and were subject to Demand Letter 2 in recent years⁴⁴

Appendix 4: Federal Firearms License Revocations/Surrenders in Top 25 Source Cities, 2021–2024⁴⁵

Learn More:

The Latest

The Everytown Evidence Engine: Harnessing AI To Identify Gun Safety Policy Solutions

Ghost Guns Recoveries and Shootings

Gun Trafficking and Crime Guns in New Jersey

Gun Trafficking and Crime Guns in Nevada

Key Takeaways

Introduction

Top 25 Crime Gun Source Cities

Top 25 Crime Gun Source Cities, 2017–2021

Top Crime Gun Source Cities Also Show Signs of Trafficking

Trafficking Indicators for Crime Guns from Source Cities, 2017–2021

Gun Dealers Play a Key Role in Preventing Gun Trafficking

Local Leaders Should Take Action to Prevent Gun Trafficking in Their Communities

Conclusion

Appendices

Appendix 1: Top 25 Crime Gun Source Cities with Population Data, 2017–2021

Appendix 2: Top 25 Source Cities Ranked by Number of Licensed Gun Dealers

Appendix 4: Federal Firearms License Revocations/Surrenders in Top 25 Source Cities, 2021–202445This list only includes FFLs who were in business at some point between 2017 and 2021 prior to their license being revoked or surrendered.

Learn More:

The Latest

The Everytown Evidence Engine: Harnessing AI To Identify Gun Safety Policy Solutions

Ghost Guns Recoveries and Shootings

Gun Trafficking and Crime Guns in New Jersey

Gun Trafficking and Crime Guns in Nevada

Appendix 4: Federal Firearms License Revocations/Surrenders in Top 25 Source Cities, 2021–2024⁴⁵