A report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms shows the agency traced more than 8,600 guns in Maryland last year and almost half were purchased in this state.
The report indicates more guns are being traced to other states compared to Maryland, showing a bit of an increase in guns traced to other states such as Virginia, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
In 2016, ATF traced 49 percent of the guns to Maryland and last year it was about 47 percent. The numbers show an increase in guns traced back to our neighboring states of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
The ATF releases this state-by-state report each year and they traced about 8,648 firearms last year, which is roughly the same amount they did two years ago. Not every gun traced was used in a crime, but many of them are.
You can see the most common crime was possession of a weapon.
The ATF traced about half a million firearms for law enforcement around the country last year.