Arizona, Nevada and Texas, states with notoriously lax gun laws, are major exporters of guns used in crimes in California, according to the California Department of Justice.
Due to its size, California is the largest source of guns used for illicit purposes in this and other states. But on a per capita level, California falls far below the national average.
For deeper analysis on this point, please take a look at this 2008 report produced by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group that counts Kevin Johnson as a member and was co-founded by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
And to read more about the issue, please go here, here and here in today's Forum.
Among the other states, Arizona and Nevada followed by Texas are the biggest sources of guns used in crimes in California.
In 2009, authorities traced 16,229 guns used in crimes in California. Most were domestic--11,787 came from California.
But Arizona accounted 840 illicit guns, or almost 19% of the illicit guns that didn't come from California, followed by 525 from Nevada, or 11.7 percent, and 332 from Texas, or 7.4 percent.
The source for this information can be found here. The pattern was the same in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
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