Today, the non-profit investigative journalism organization, ProPublica, issued a report on gun tracing in the United States, which found that 68 percent of all guns the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms recovered in New York State originated in another state. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. issued the following statement in reaction to this report:

“We have some of the toughest gun laws in the United States here in New York, but the scourge of gun crime can never be truly erased from our streets until we have tougher federal controls on gun sales. Nearly 70 percent of all weapons recovered here come from out of state—and nothing could illustrate the problem we face more clearly than that disturbing statistic. Congressional action is long overdue,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

The complete report from ProPublica can be found at http://projects.propublica.org/graphics/atf-gun-traces.