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What happened

Unlicensed gun dealers sold at least 68,388 firearms into the black market between 2017 and 2021, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said Thursday. Those guns represent 54% of illegally trafficked firearms recovered in that period. Another 40% involved illegal “straw purchases” for someone unable to pass a federal background check.

Who said what

The data shows that people who “illegally traffic firearms, whether it’s out of a trunk, at a gun show or online, are responsible for real violence in this nation,” including hundreds of shootings, said ATF Director Steve Dettelbach. “Americans need this data to understand this threat.”

What next?

Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered the first gun trafficking analysis in more than 20 years to better understand the nation’s firearms market. The Biden administration will likely “use the new data to muster support for regulations closing a loophole that has allowed kitchen-table dealers, gun-show vendors and online sellers to avoid background checks required of 80,000 federally licensed dealers,” The New York Times said. The proposed rule has not been finalized yet.