The Iron Pipeline is the route in the United States used to smuggle weapons from ten states mostly in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

to Mid-Atlantic states and

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

, particularly states with stricter gun laws such as New York and New Jersey.

Overview

Physically, the term "Iron Pipeline" denotes Interstate 95 (I-95) and its connector highways. It is dubbed so by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), as well as politicians, law enforcement officials, and organizations such as

Mayors Against Illegal Guns Everytown for Gun Safety is an American nonprofit organization which advocates for gun control and against gun violence. Everytown was created in 2013 when Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America joined forc ...

. The latter organization produced a report in 2010 based on information provided by ATF, and concluded that "in 2009 ten states (Arizona, California, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia) supplied almost half the interstate-trafficked guns recovered at crime scenes".

Impact on the United States

In May 2015, after it was determined that the gun used in the shooting of NYPD officer Brian Moore was stolen from a gun store in

Perry, Georgia Perry is a city in Houston and Peach counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the county seat of Houston County. The population was 13,839 at the 2010 census, up from 9,602 at the 2000 census. As of 2019 the estimated population was 17,894. I ...

, US Senator

Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, an ...

from New York called for a "federal crackdown" on the Iron Pipeline. According to WCBS 880, "90 percent of guns recovered at New York City crime scenes come from out-of-state". According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', the Iron Pipeline is "one of the biggest factors thwarting New York in its efforts to keep guns off the streets and out of the hands of criminals". On January 5th 2016, president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

publicly announced executive actions to clarify laws on background checks, and to hire additional ATF and FBI agents. President Obama stated that, "Guns cross state lines as easily as cars do. If your state has strong gun laws but the neighboring state does not have strong gun laws, the guns come into your state. That's called the Iron Pipeline." Some 500,00 guns are trafficked into Mexico each year. As of January 2, 2023, Mexico has sued the US gun industry−or certain of its members–in two U.S. courts. For all civil plaintiffs, the primary impediment is the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. But numerous public officials have supported such actions via amicus curiae briefs 56 Suffolk Law Review 1 (2023).

References

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Overview

Impact on the United States

References

See also