By CLEMENTE LISI
June 18, 2008
Gun dealers claimed they "lost" an average of 82 firearms a day last year - totaling more than 30,000 weapons with no record of sale that likely ended up on the black market, an anti-gun group warned yesterday.
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence - using data supplied by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms - said rogue gun dealers often attempt to disguise illegal off-the-book sales by claiming the firearms were lost or stolen.
"Communities across our nation can't afford to have corrupt gun dealers failing to account for more than 30,000 firearms - that is a deadly recipe for more gun deaths and injuries," said Paul Helmke, the group's president.
The 30,000 "missing" guns are likely an undercount of the total number that disappeared from shops last year, the group said.
ATF conducted compliance inspections at about 10,000 of the country's 60,000 gun dealers last year - finding more than 30,000 firearms missing from the dealers' inventory, with no record of sale.
In 2006, ATF examined 3,083 dealers and found 12,274 missing guns.
