ATLANTA — Georgia leads the nation in a dangerous and illegal export: Guns trafficked from here to other states and U.S. territories.
“Those who want to traffic these firearms, they’re able to exploit Georgia’s firearms laws,” Ben Gibbons, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Atlanta Field Division, told Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne.
Gibbons says the ATF Atlanta Field Division is among the national leaders for cases involving guns trafficked to Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean.
“They turn up in all sorts of violent crimes to include murders, aggravated assaults,” he said.
Gibbons says for years, convicted felons who can’t legally buy guns have sent someone who can, a straw purchaser, to a store to buy guns for them.
In one recent case, Olaolukitan Adon Abel allegedly used a gun to murder three people in DeKalb County recently that ATF traced to a homeless veteran who confirmed Adon Abel paid him to buy it from a gun store.
The ATF agent suggests criminals here now increasingly traffic guns bought at private sales or that were stolen.
They also have some good news to report. They have seen a decrease in firearms purchased from federal firearms licensees and trafficked domestically.
They’re down by 68 to 70 percent, along with a 50 percent decrease in international trafficking to the Caribbean.
Congress passed laws in 2022 to make the penalty 15 years in federal prison for people who buy guns to give them to others in the use of crimes.
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