10.17889/E112045V1
Knight, Brian
Replication data for: State Gun Policy and Cross-State Externalities: Evidence from Crime Gun Tracing
ICPSR Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
2013
10.1257/pol.5.4.200
10.1257/pol.5.4.200
1
This paper provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of crossstate
externalities associated with gun regulations that impact gun
trafficking. Using tracing data, which identify the source state for
crime guns recovered in destination states, we find that firearms tend
to flow from states with weak laws to states with strict laws, satisfying
a key theoretical condition for the existence of externalities. We
also find that gun flows are more significant between nearby states,
suggesting that externalities are spatial in nature. Finally, we present
evidence that criminal possession of guns is higher in states exposed
to weak laws in nearby states.