A shooting in Boston. A carjacking in Washington, D.C. A robbery in New York. All were carried out with guns that were among hundreds bought in the South and trafficked north to cities with some of the nation’s strictest firearms laws, according to court documents gathered by the group Everytown for Gun Safety.
The group’s new report illuminates a key way that guns go from legitimate store shelves to crime scenes: people, known as straw purchasers, buy weapons legally and resell them on the black market. The report traces more than 250 guns bought over the course of three years from nearly two dozen stores in the Academy Sports + Outdoors chain, one of several gun sellers where convicted straw purchasers bought guns.
