Today, Everytown for Gun Safety released the following statement applauding the signing of a memorandum of understanding by Governors Kathy Hochul of New York, Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania, and Ned Lamont of Connecticut to share crime gun data in an effort to prevent gun violence and enhance public safety. The agreement will allow law enforcement officials from those states to share gun violence data across state lines in order to detect, deter, and investigate gun crimes, as well as identify and stop straw purchasers, illegal dealers, firearms traffickers, and other gun criminals.
“States committed to reducing gun violence must work together to curb illegal guns and interstate firearms trafficking,” said Nick Suplina, Senior Vice President for Law & Policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. “We are extremely heartened that gun safety champions Governors Hochul, Murphy, Wolf, and Lamont are banding together to take on this important fight.”
Currently, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) assists state and local law enforcement agencies in their efforts to investigate, prosecute and prevent gun crimes by tracing guns used to commit crimes, and providing states with eTrace reports. This new memorandum will direct states to transmit crime gun data to the other participating states and will include a copy of each eTrace report from the ATF, as well as other eTrace data.
