On a per capita basis, West Virginia exports the second highest number of guns involved in crimes in the country.
That’s according to new data from The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
The group also concludes the state has some of the weakest gun laws in the country.
But pro-gun groups argue it’s misleading to blame state laws for gun exports.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence analyzed 2008 data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The group discovered that more than 800 guns recovered by law enforcement in other states were traced back to West Virginia.
Only Mississippi exports more guns involved in crimes per capita. Brady Center Attorney Daniel Vice blames weak gun laws.
“We found that as a group, the states with weaker gun laws were supplying crime guns at a rate five times higher than the states with stronger gun laws,” he said.
The Brady Campaign graded individual states on their gun laws. Only three states scored lower than West Virginia.
Each state had the possibility of earning up to 100 points, based on its efforts to end gun trafficking, require background checks, promote child safety, ban assault weapons and control firearms in public places.
West Virginia got a score of 4 out of 100.
“Two points because they don’t force employers to allow guns at the workplace, and they don’t force colleges to allow guns on campuses,” he said.
The Brady Campaign wants the ATF to track which dealers sell these guns.
They are also seeking more legislatures to pass stricter gun laws.
But National Rifle Association spokeswoman Alexa Fritts says gun control is not the answer.
“We need to have better enforcement of the laws that we have,” she said.
“There are already laws that address the sale of handguns across state lines,” she said, “not all firearms used in crimes are traced, and not all firearms that are traced are used in crime.”
The NRA points out that some of the states with the strongest gun laws also have high crime rates.
Mark Walsh owns Mountaineer Gun Sales in Morgantown.
He also disagrees with the Brady report.
“I don’t think we have weak gun laws at all,” he said.
Walsh says he goes through a thorough process before he is allowed to sell a gun.
“Fill out an application; with your personal information on it, then we turn and call the FBI Center,” he said.
“You can’t sell a gun at all without having the FBI clearance on it.”
After Mississippi and West Virginia, the next three states with high export rates per capita are Alabama, Virginia and South Carolina.
The Brady Campaign hopes this report will convince politicians to crack down on interstate gun trafficking and improve gun trace data.