Members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns Gather for Major Summit on Gun Violence Prevention and Gun Industry Accountability, Release New Report Exposing Top Crime Gun Manufacturers  

New Report Found Four Gun Manufacturers – Glock, Taurus, Smith & Wesson, and Ruger – Accounted For Over 40% of Guns Recovered in Crimes in 2023, with Glock Leading at 18.4%

Summit Brings Leaders Together to Share Strategies on Combating Gun Violence in Their Communities With a Focus on Gun Industry Accountability; Co-Hosted by Baltimore Mayor Scott, Participants Include the Mayors of Memphis, Kansas City, Lansing, Albany and More

BALTIMORE – Ahead of a mayoral summit on gun violence prevention, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund and members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns today released new data on the top manufacturers of guns used in crimes in their cities, and called on their fellow mayors across the country to do the same. 

Thirty-four U.S. cities provided Everytown with aggregate data on a total of 178,218 recovered crime guns from the past five years. According to the resulting report, just four gun manufacturers accounted for over 40 percent of the recovered crime guns in 2023 – Glock (18.4%), Taurus (9.3%), Smith & Wesson (9.3%), and Ruger (4.7%). This concentration of crime gun recoveries is particularly notable given there are currently over 11,000 licensed gun manufacturers in the United States. 

What’s more, twenty cities reported recovering more than 560 machine gun conversion devices in 2023, at least two-thirds of which were “Glock switches.” The report data highlights the urgent need for manufacturers to implement codes of conduct, cut off irresponsible dealers, innovate safety features, and advertise products responsibly — and for policy makers to ensure manufacturers take these steps.

Following the report launch, members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a joint program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety, will unite at a summit tomorrow, September 27, to share strategies for combating gun violence in their communities. Co-hosted with MAIG Co-Chair Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, representatives from close to 20 cities – including leading Mayors, Deputy Mayors, Directors of the Mayor’s Office to Reduce Gun Violence and more  – will collaborate on initiatives to hold the gun industry accountable and learn from each other. In 2006, then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and then-Boston Mayor Thomas Menino founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns as a coalition of 15 mayors. The coalition has since grown to a nonpartisan group of more than 2,000 current and former mayors from the smallest towns to the biggest cities in nearly every state. 

“Mayors are on the front lines of the gun violence crisis, and today they’re calling out one of their biggest obstacles: gun companies that refuse to do their part to keep firearms away from criminals,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “For years, bad actors in the gun industry have profited from pain without fear of accountability — but those days are coming to an end.”

“This group of my fellow mayors is so deeply devoted to the fight to end gun violence in our communities and I am honored to be hosting them for this summit,” said Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott. “Tackling the nationwide epidemic of gun violence is going to take every single one of us working in partnership – and that’s what coming together in this manner helps us do. Together, alongside the team from Everytown, we are learning from one another’s successes, trading best practices, and envisioning the path forward. We have already taken many of the lessons shared with each other and put them into practice to reduce violence in cities across the country the right way. I want to thank every single one of them not only for being part of this convening – but also for their commitment, optimism, and tenacity in doing the hard work every single day.”

“Gun violence has been reduced since the pandemic, but communities across the country are still facing the issue of illegal guns on our streets,” said Lansing Mayor Andy Schor. “Mayors Against Illegal Guns will be coming together to share resources and ideas on what is and isn’t working in our communities. This latest data helps us understand what we are facing as we push for stronger state and federal laws to help cities keep our residents safer from gun violence.”

“With repeated shooting tragedies in our schools, our places of worship, and on our streets, gun manufacturers must take accountability as their weapons continue to be illegally trafficked and end up in the hands of violent people doing harm in America’s cities and towns,” said Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas. “As America’s mayors, we will continue to work together, with strong partners like Everytown for Gun Safety, to save lives and rid our communities of the flood of illegally-obtained, high-capacity firearms.”

Key findings from the new report include:

• Four gun manufacturers accounted for over 40 percent of the recovered crime guns in 2023: Glock (18.4%), Taurus (9.3%), Smith & Wesson (9.3%), and Ruger (4.7%). Glock pistols were recovered at crime scenes twice as often as the second-leading manufacturer, Taurus.

• Twenty cities reported recovering more than 560 machine gun conversion devices in 2023, at least two-thirds of which were “Glock switches.”

• Crime scene recoveries of Polymer80s – the nation’s largest producer of ghost gun kits and component parts – increased nearly 1,200 percent over the past five years, finally showing signs of decline in 2023, following litigation as well as regulatory and legislative fixes.
  • For years, Everytown for Gun Safety has led the effort to hold the ghost gun industry accountable, working in the legal, regulatory, and grassroots arenas to bring about positive change.
  • Polymer80, which until recently held 85% of the ghost gun market share, recently shut down following numerous legal and regulatory challenges, including several lawsuits brought by Everytown Law and a rule enacted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives designed to curb the ghost gun market.

• The top manufacturer of recovered crime guns was Glock in 28 of the 34 reporting cities. Glock is the leading manufacturer of crime guns recovered across Akron, Albany, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boulder, Buffalo, Chattanooga, Cleveland, Denver, Des Moines, Greensboro, Hartford, Kansas City, Lansing, Little Rock, Madison, Memphis, Nashville, Newark, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Providence, Richmond, San Antonio, Santa Fe, Savannah, South San Francisco and Tampa Bay. Taurus is the leading manufacturer of crime guns recovered in Allentown and Mount Vernon. Polymer80 is the leading crime gun manufacturer in Rochester and San Rafael. Smith & Wesson is the leading manufacturer of crime guns recovered in Syracuse.

At the groundbreaking summit, organized with support from the Joyce Foundation, participants will discuss tactics to address the rise of crime guns across their cities, the implementation of local violence deterrence measures, innovative industry accountability tactics, and their ongoing commitments to ensuring public safety, among other topics.

All of the mayors attending the summit are members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, including Baltimore, Maryland Mayor Brandon Scott (MAIG Co-Chair); Kansas City, Missouri Mayor Quinton Lucas (MAIG Co-Chair); Lansing, Michigan Mayor Andy Schor (MAIG Co-Chair); Richmond, Virginia Mayor Levar Stoney; Newport News, Virginia Mayor Phillip Jones; Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Randall Woodfin; Allentown, Pennsylvania Mayor Matt Tuerk;  Little Rock, Arkansas Mayor Frank Scott Jr.; Dumfries, Virginia Mayor Derrick Wood; Bridgeport, Connecticut Mayor Joe Ganim; Memphis, Tennessee Mayor Paul Young; Cleveland Heights, Ohio Mayor Kahil Seren; Albany, New York Mayor Kathy Sheehan. Chicago, Illinois Deputy Mayor Garien Gatewood; Montgomery, Alabama Police Chief James Graboys; Syracuse, New York Director of the Mayor’s Office to Reduce Gun Violence Lateef Johnson-Kinsey; Buffalo, New York Senior Advisor to the Mayor Oswaldo Mestre Jr.; Indianapolis, Indiana Deputy Director of Violence Reduction Tony Lopez and more will also attend. Many of the leaders mentioned above – including the mayors of Baltimore, Chicago, Kansas City and beyond – have already taken significant steps towards holding certain members of the gun industry accountable through litigation for their contributions to our gun violence epidemic.