Oregon Gun Homicides: 40% Traced to Illegal Trafficking Through Legal Dealers

A new report reveals that nearly 40% of guns used in homicides in Oregon are illegally trafficked through legal gun dealers, and another 30% are stolen from them.

The Alliance for a Safe Oregon, which released the report, found that there are security, training, and inspection gaps among the state’s 2,100 gun dealers. The report highlights that employees are often not trained to spot “straw purchases,” where someone buys a gun for another person who isn’t legally allowed to own one.

Jess Marks, the executive director of the alliance, suggested that increasing state inspections, which currently only happen once every ten years, could help reduce illegal gun trafficking. She pointed out that other industries, like hair salons and cannabis businesses, are inspected much more frequently.

The report suggests that training employees to spot straw purchases and improving gun dealers’ storage and security could make a big difference. Marks also noted that states with stronger policies, like New Jersey, have a 35% lower homicide rate.

The report also shows that straw purchases and stolen firearms have contributed to a sharp increase in homicides in Oregon, which have risen by 172% in the past decade. Marks emphasized that most gun dealers are unaware when fraudulent purchases happen and stressed that more regulations would protect honest dealers.

She criticized the lack of consequences for gun dealers with repeated safety violations, saying that the solutions are simple policies that most people support.

“If we want to reduce homicides and shootings, we need to address the issue of illegal guns in our communities,” Marks said.