Too easy to legally buy a gun? U.S. study
says few criminals buy them in stores
Justice Department surveyed nearly 25,000 state and federal prisoners
By John Woolfolk. January 21st, 2019
As lawmakers push to toughen gun sale rules amid outrage over random mass shootings like the November massacre at a Thousand Oaks country music bar, a new federal study says few criminals who had a gun bought it from a retailer.
According to the January special report by the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics, about one in 10 state and federal prisoners convicted of crimes involving a firearm said they got the weapon through a retail source like a sporting goods store, pawn shop or gun show.
Both sides in the debate over toughening gun laws said the study, based on interviews with 20,064 state and 4,784 federal prisoners, supports their argument.
Gun-rights advocates argue it bolsters their case that laws making it harder to legally buy guns aren't keeping them out of criminals' hands and only vex the law-abiding citizens who buy guns for sport or protection. The findings, they say, are consistent with similar surveys in 1997 and 1991.
....... 
It has long been fairly certain that criminals obtain their guns for the most part by nefarious means, which can probably be referred to as "black market" sourcing and theft. Of course a small percentage of first time criminals certainly might have illegally got a gun through 'legal' means but that should not result in all the restrictions anti-gun groups want to impose on the law abiding majority. The fact is, bad guys will always manage to stay ahead of the game however many laws are made.
