New York's Gun Problem

New York has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. However, a new report from the New York Attorney General's Office shows that gun trafficking has created a loophole for gun-wielding criminals. In the past five years, the New York Police Department has recovered more than 53,000 guns that have been used in a crime. The study shows that three-fourths of them were bought out of state and then sold illegally in New York.

The research also shows that the process can be quite simple. Traffickers will travel to the "Iron Pipeline," which consists of states with relaxed gun laws along I-95, namely Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. These states legally provide traffickers with guns that could be used for criminal purposes in New York.

"Bad guys are not even trying to buy the guns they use for crime in New York, because they know our permitting laws are so tough," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said. "We have to deal with this as a national problem."

To help illustrate how big a problem this is, the Attorney General's Office has created an interactive tool that allows lawmakers and residents to see how this affects their own communities.

"You can see whether your town has a problem with rifles or handguns, you can see how likely a gun recovered in your city or town has been trafficked from out of state, and you can see what states are supplying crime guns to your city," Schneiderman said.

Schneiderman said he hopes this "first-of-its-kind" study will have an impact on state and federal gun control laws.