The United States is the only country in the world with more civilian-owned firearms than people. While most of the nearly 400 million firearms in the U.S. belong to law-abiding citizens, some portion of them inevitably end up in the wrong hands.
Every year, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives traces hundreds of thousands of firearms that were either used, or are suspected to have been used, to commit a crime. While not all firearms used in criminal acts are traced, ATF data reveals that in every state, there is at least one city that appears to account for a disproportionate share of crimes involving a firearm.
The ATF traced a total of 19,170 firearms in Illinois in 2021. Of those, 9,584, or 50.0%, of all guns traced in the state were linked to crimes in Chicago. Meanwhile, Chicago accounts for only 21.4% of the state’s total population, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey.
Rockford accounted for the second largest share of firearm tracings in the state in 2021, at 2.6%, while Springfield ranked third, accounting for 2.3% of all firearms traced by the ATF that year. Rockford and Springfield make up 1.2% and 0.9% of Illinois’s total population, respectively.
All firearm trace data is from the ATF and total firearms traced by state includes only those in which a city or town was identified.
StateCity with the most firearms linked to crime, 2021Firearms linked to crime in city, 2021Share of total state-wide traces from city, 2021 (%)Share of total state pop. in city, 2021 (%)AlabamaMobile1,69419.23.8AlaskaAnchorage38648.439.8ArizonaPhoenix4,31735.722.5ArkansasLittle Rock1,08830.76.7CaliforniaLos Angeles8,03614.89.9ColoradoDenver1,85426.312.3ConnecticutHartford34921.63.4DelawareWilmington52431.27.2FloridaJacksonville3,1979.34.4GeorgiaAtlanta4,08320.04.6HawaiiHonolulu3026.124.2IdahoBoise33824.712.8IllinoisChicago9,58450.021.4IndianaIndianapolis4,62944.813.0IowaDes Moines59623.26.7KansasWichita1,71840.013.5KentuckyLouisville2,97743.814.0LouisianaNew Orleans2,01714.68.2MainePortland9117.75.0MarylandBaltimore2,63126.79.6MassachusettsBoston88827.69.6MichiganDetroit7,64462.06.4MinnesotaMinneapolis1,18325.77.5MississippiGulfport53311.32.4MissouriSt. Louis3,37833.14.9MontanaBillings28624.110.7NebraskaOmaha1,27256.825.0NevadaLas Vegas5,11075.920.7New HampshireManchester38554.68.4New JerseyNewark57012.23.3New MexicoAlbuquerque2,41858.826.7New YorkNew York City5,15050.043.4North CarolinaCharlotte3,83716.78.3North DakotaFargo18924.716.2OhioColumbus3,76318.27.6OklahomaTulsa2,05438.710.4OregonPortland1,33924.515.4PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia6,11339.912.3Rhode IslandProvidence32949.417.3South CarolinaColumbia1,78216.92.7South DakotaRapid City44653.68.4TennesseeMemphis6,44041.59.2TexasHouston11,60025.57.9UtahSalt Lake City45615.26.2VermontBurlington3916.07.0VirginiaRichmond1,34111.02.6WashingtonSeattle66611.99.5West VirginiaCharleston42425.02.7WisconsinMilwaukee3,45448.99.8WyomingCasper7324.610.2
