Illicit guns flow into Maryland

In '07 crimes, 44%% of firearms were imported

By Annie Linskey | Sun Reporter
June 1, 2008

The burglar known as "white boy" cut a hole in the roof of a Virginia
gun store last July and took 40 weapons.

Within a month, some of those guns began showing up on the streets of
Baltimore - 100 miles from the tiny Shenandoah Valley town of
Washington, Va. Police seized the first on West Lombard Street in
August. A suspect fleeing from police tossed away another on Hollins
Street in September.

A third gun from that burglary garnered the most attention - a West
Baltimore gang member used it in a series of daylight gunfights with
police in April. One officer was struck in the thigh; the suspect is
recovering under guard in a hospital.

"Most of those guns on the street are stolen from somewhere," said
Sgt. Richard A. Willard, a supervisor in Baltimore's police gun task
force. "These guys need an outlet to sell their guns."

And many of these weapons are imported from Virginia and other states.

A new analysis of violence in Baltimore by the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives shows that trend: 44 percent of the
guns used in Maryland crimes last year came from over the state line.
That makes Maryland one of the largest importers of guns that are
recovered by police at crime scenes, according to the Brady Center to
Prevent Gun Violence.

Experts said Maryland's tough gun control laws likely explain why so
many of those guns come from elsewhere...

Importing guns
Almost half of the guns used in Maryland crimes in 2007 came from
outside the state -- a fact experts attribute to Maryland's tough gun
control laws. Below are the top 15 sources.

Maryland - 2454
Virginia - 465
North Carolina - 209
Pennsylvania - 208
West Virginia - 168
Georgia - 114
South Carolina - 98
Florida - 93
Ohio - 77
Texas - 61
California - 57
Kentucky - 36
Alabama - 34
Delaware - 27
Oklahoma - 25

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