“For the fourth year in a row, the number of crime guns recovered in New York City has dropped – from 7,059 in 2006 to 5,135 in 2009. The number of guns with low time to crime – a key measure of gun trafficking – has also decreased dramatically, from 527 in 2006 to 401 last year.

“This progress is a testament to the vigorous efforts of the men and women of the NYPD, tough new state laws, and the City’s innovative litigation. We filed groundbreaking lawsuits against gun dealers who had been caught on video selling guns in apparent violation of federal law. While gun dealers in the five states where we sued dealers remain in the top ten source states for crime guns, the number of crime guns from those states dropped by 19 percent between 2006 – the year we filed those lawsuits – and 2009. And a Johns Hopkins University study showed that a sample of the dealers had their share of apparently trafficked New York City crime guns decrease by 75 percent after they agreed to a court-appointed monitor to track sales activities.

“The ATF data validates our illegal gun trafficking strategy, and we will continue to do everything we can to keep illegal guns off our streets and keep New Yorkers safe.”