(The Center Square) - Two bills regarding teacher raises await Oklahoma lawmakers when they begin their legislative session next month, and a third proposal for merit-based pay is on the table.

The Oklahoma State Board of Education approved a proposal from State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters to base teacher pay raises on merit. The plan could cost $150 million.

The incentives would range from $2,500 to $10,000 and would be in addition to the minimum salary schedule, according to the proposal.

The plan differs from one approved by the State Board of Education in September when it voted to ask lawmakers for a $5,000 raise for state teachers. The raises would cost the state $310 billion and were supported by the Oklahoma Education Association.

The association is not backing the merit plan.

"The metrics used to determine merit-based pay are controversial and inequitable," OEA President Katherine Bishop said in a statement. "Our students deserve educators who are compensated and respected as the professionals they are. Previous pay raises for all educators have proven to increase quality candidates to the profession."

The starting annual salary for an Oklahoma teacher is $38,074, and the average salary is $54,762, according to the National Education Association. Surrounding states start teachers off at higher wages. New teachers in Texas start at $44,527. New Kansas teachers make slightly more than their Oklahoma counterparts at $39,100.

Lawmakers are also introducing bills that would give teachers pay raises.

Sen. Dewayne Pemberton, R-Muskogee, a retired educator, introduced a bill in December that would give teachers a $2,000 annual raise for the 2023-2024, 2026-2027 and 2029-2030 school years. He told The Center Square he hoped the pay raises would alleviate the state's teacher shortage.

"We had 3,338 emergency certifications last year," he said. "We're running about the same number this year. We can't find teachers, especially in the math and science areas."

Pemberton's bill is assigned to the Senate Education Committee.

Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, introduced a comprehensive education package last week that includes a bill allocating $241 million for teacher pay raises. The proposal would move starting teacher pay to $40,000 annually with a $3,000 pay increase through the next four years, and incremental pay raises after that. That bill is also assigned to the Senate Education Committee.

In the wake of the pandemic, with growing economic uncertainty and climate change stressing public infrastructure, more Americans are seeking ways to live off the grid. This does not necessarily mean forgoing all modern conveniences. Rather, living off the grid simply often means just that - being disconnected from local utility grids and having a higher degree of self-sufficiency.

A recent study released by LawnStarter, a lawn care company that frequently conducts research into city and state amenities, created a weighted index of 23 key measures to identify the best states to live off the grid. These measures fall into one of five categories: feasibility, infrastructure, affordability, climate, and safety.

According to LawnStarter, Oklahoma ranks as the fifth best state for those seeking to live off the grid.

Oklahoma scores highest in the affordability category, which includes measures like the average per-acre value of cropland, the property tax rate, and the overall cost of living. The state's lowest ranking category is climate, which takes into account measures such as the average yearly amount of sunshine, the average yearly amount of rain, and days of extreme temperatures.

All data in this story is from LawnStarter. A full description of the methodology is available here.

RankStateOverall off-the-grid scoreHighest ranking categoryLowest ranking category1Iowa67.1SafetyAffordability2Texas65.6InfrastructureClimate3Kentucky63.4SafetyInfrastructure4Minnesota61.3SafetyClimate5Oklahoma61.1AffordabilityClimate6Nebraska61.0SafetyClimate7Kansas60.6SafetyFeasibility8North Dakota59.5FeasibilityClimate9Illinois58.9SafetyAffordability10Montana58.5AffordabilityClimate11Missouri58.3SafetyInfrastructure12Wyoming57.8AffordabilityClimate13South Dakota57.7InfrastructureClimate14Wisconsin57.2SafetyClimate15Vermont56.9InfrastructureAffordability16Arkansas56.8ClimateInfrastructure17Idaho56.6FeasibilityClimate18Tennessee55.5AffordabilityFeasibility19Oregon55.2FeasibilityClimate20Maine54.3InfrastructureAffordability21West Virginia54.1AffordabilityInfrastructure22Indiana52.9InfrastructureFeasibility23Georgia52.4ClimateInfrastructure24Ohio52.3SafetyClimate25Louisiana52.2ClimateInfrastructure26Mississippi52.2SafetyInfrastructure27Washington51.1InfrastructureClimate28New Hampshire51.0SafetyAffordability29Alabama51.0AffordabilityFeasibility30Virginia50.8ClimateSafety31South Carolina50.4ClimateSafety32New Mexico50.0AffordabilitySafety33Hawaii49.6ClimateAffordability34California49.1InfrastructureAffordability35Colorado48.1AffordabilityFeasibility36Florida47.9ClimateSafety37Michigan47.9SafetyClimate38North Carolina46.8ClimateFeasibility39Delaware46.0ClimateSafety40Arizona46.0ClimateAffordability41New York45.5InfrastructureFeasibility42Utah40.6AffordabilitySafety43Alaska40.1FeasibilityInfrastructure44Pennsylvania40.0ClimateFeasibility45Nevada39.4AffordabilitySafety46Massachusetts37.6ClimateFeasibility47Maryland36.6ClimateFeasibility48Connecticut34.5ClimateFeasibility49Rhode Island33.5ClimateFeasibility50New Jersey28.2ClimateAffordability

(The Center Square) - U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and seven other senators have signed onto a bill that would repeal the tax threshold for reporting third-party payments.

Under a provision in the American Rescue Plan Act, business transactions over $600 annually would be reported to the IRS by the payment platforms.

The Stop the Nosy Obsession with Online Payments Act, known as the SNOOP Act, would keep the threshold at $20,000 a year for at least 200 transactions.

“Small business owners and independent contractors need rescuing from this American Rescue Plan Act provision, which, fortunately, has yet to be implemented by the IRS,” Cramer said in a news release. “Our bill would prevent enforcement of the onerous regulation and institute a more reasonable reporting threshold.”

“This invasion of taxpayer privacy is another example of overreach by the Administration and should be stopped in its tracks,” he added.

Cramer co-sponsored a similar bill last year. According to congressional records, it was assigned to the Senate Finance Committee but never made it to the Senate floor for a vote.

The IRS delayed enforcing the regulation for the 2022 tax year.

“The IRS and Treasury heard a number of concerns regarding the timeline of implementation of these changes under the American Rescue Plan,” Acting IRS Commissioner Doug O’Donnell said in December. “The additional time will help reduce confusion during the upcoming 2023 tax filing season and provide more time for taxpayers to prepare and understand the new reporting requirements.”

Sens. John Hoeven, R-N.D, Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, John Kennedy, R-La., John Barrasso, R-Wyo. and James Lankford, R-Okla. are co-sponsors of the bill.

Gun sales, as approximated by background checks, surged in 2020 to 39,695,315 just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. They have declined each year since, to 38,876,673 in 2021 and to 31,596,646 in 2022. Still, these numbers remain higher than pre-pandemic levels.

The FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System publishes a monthly list of how many firearm background checks are conducted on potential gun buyers. Nearly everyone put through this system qualifies. Of the more than 400 million checks conducted since November 1998, there have only been 2.1 million denials. More than half of those who are denied have criminal records.

Adjusting for population, there were 94.8 background checks per 1,000 people nationwide in 2022. The per capita background check data varies considerably by state.

In Oklahoma, 370,275 background checks were conducted in 2022 based on FBI data. Adjusted for population, this amounts to about 92.1 firearm background checks for every 1,000 people, the 20th highest rate among states.

Estimated per capita gun sales in the state in 2021, approximated by background checks, totaled 416,514, or about 103.6 per person, compared to the national rate of 116.6 per 1,000 people.

Population data used to calculate background checks per capita came from the U.S. Census Bureau's Population and Housing Unit Estimates Program, and are for July of 2022. It is important to note that in some states, certain firearm permit rechecks require FBI background checks, which can impact the overall number of background checks used to create this ranking.

RankStateFBI firearm background checks per 1,000 people, 2022Total FBI firearm background checks, 2022FBI firearm background checks per 1,000 people, 2021Total FBI firearm background checks, 20211Kentucky890.14,016,510852.83,848,0612Illinois355.74,476,055673.58,474,5053Utah300.01,014,277349.51,181,5644Indiana161.71,105,040265.71,815,5315Minnesota155.9891,044165.3945,2996Alabama145.7739,113186.5946,2717Montana126.3141,803143.1160,6408Idaho121.4235,465141.2273,7629Wyoming120.970,276145.684,62410Tennessee118.7836,953136.8964,51211Oregon116.9495,842107.1454,13312Alaska115.684,802124.391,20713West Virginia108.6192,868126.3224,24014Wisconsin107.9635,528133.4785,85615Mississippi96.9284,864110323,31916South Dakota96.387,589117.5106,88117New Hampshire95.7133,507108.8151,85318Pennsylvania94.81,229,129108.61,408,16519North Dakota93.072,458103.480,54620Oklahoma92.1370,275103.6416,51421Washington90.7706,26094.6736,84622Colorado90.5528,335107.7628,81123Missouri85.9530,932102.7634,19124Maine82.4114,09093.3129,19325New Mexico82.2173,79392.3194,98926South Carolina80.1423,09891.9485,48727Michigan78.6789,16096.8970,99028Arkansas78.6239,35094.8288,70629Louisiana75.1344,80887.4401,34530Arizona72.5533,69976.6563,76331Vermont69.144,72279.751,54932Iowa68.3218,70383.3266,67833Florida66.31,474,73076.91,711,68534Virginia65.4567,50475.5655,33935Kansas65.3191,89578.4230,16836Connecticut63.6230,70276.5277,25037Texas57.71,732,651661,980,75338Delaware57.358,32367.869,06839North Carolina57.3612,69573.1781,73340Ohio55.9656,93672.5851,88741Georgia55.1601,40773.9806,91242Maryland52.9326,11443.4267,75343Nevada47.9152,26158.7186,57844Nebraska38.275,08446.190,67645California36.71,431,99337.81,476,07346Massachusetts32.6227,92837.1259,24847Rhode Island25.527,90034.737,93648New York22.7447,56723.6464,57549New Jersey18.1167,74024.1223,43750Hawaii13.118,84212.317,707

Gun sales, as approximated by background checks, surged in 2020 to 39,695,315 just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. They have declined each year since, to 38,876,673 in 2021 and to 31,596,646 in 2022. Still, these numbers remain higher than pre-pandemic levels.

The FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System publishes a monthly list of how many firearm background checks are conducted on potential gun buyers. Nearly everyone put through this system qualifies. Of the more than 400 million checks conducted since November 1998, there have only been 2.1 million denials. More than half of those who are denied have criminal records.

Adjusting for population, there were 94.8 background checks per 1,000 people nationwide in 2022. The per capita background check data varies considerably by state.

In Oklahoma, 370,275 background checks were conducted in 2022 based on FBI data. Adjusted for population, this amounts to about 92.1 firearm background checks for every 1,000 people, the 20th highest rate among states.

Estimated per capita gun sales in the state in 2021, approximated by background checks, totaled 416,514, or about 103.6 per person, compared to the national rate of 116.6 per 1,000 people.

Population data used to calculate background checks per capita came from the U.S. Census Bureau's Population and Housing Unit Estimates Program, and are for July of 2022. It is important to note that in some states, certain firearm permit rechecks require FBI background checks, which can impact the overall number of background checks used to create this ranking.

RankStateFBI firearm background checks per 1,000 people, 2022Total FBI firearm background checks, 2022FBI firearm background checks per 1,000 people, 2021Total FBI firearm background checks, 20211Kentucky890.14,016,510852.83,848,0612Illinois355.74,476,055673.58,474,5053Utah300.01,014,277349.51,181,5644Indiana161.71,105,040265.71,815,5315Minnesota155.9891,044165.3945,2996Alabama145.7739,113186.5946,2717Montana126.3141,803143.1160,6408Idaho121.4235,465141.2273,7629Wyoming120.970,276145.684,62410Tennessee118.7836,953136.8964,51211Oregon116.9495,842107.1454,13312Alaska115.684,802124.391,20713West Virginia108.6192,868126.3224,24014Wisconsin107.9635,528133.4785,85615Mississippi96.9284,864110323,31916South Dakota96.387,589117.5106,88117New Hampshire95.7133,507108.8151,85318Pennsylvania94.81,229,129108.61,408,16519North Dakota93.072,458103.480,54620Oklahoma92.1370,275103.6416,51421Washington90.7706,26094.6736,84622Colorado90.5528,335107.7628,81123Missouri85.9530,932102.7634,19124Maine82.4114,09093.3129,19325New Mexico82.2173,79392.3194,98926South Carolina80.1423,09891.9485,48727Michigan78.6789,16096.8970,99028Arkansas78.6239,35094.8288,70629Louisiana75.1344,80887.4401,34530Arizona72.5533,69976.6563,76331Vermont69.144,72279.751,54932Iowa68.3218,70383.3266,67833Florida66.31,474,73076.91,711,68534Virginia65.4567,50475.5655,33935Kansas65.3191,89578.4230,16836Connecticut63.6230,70276.5277,25037Texas57.71,732,651661,980,75338Delaware57.358,32367.869,06839North Carolina57.3612,69573.1781,73340Ohio55.9656,93672.5851,88741Georgia55.1601,40773.9806,91242Maryland52.9326,11443.4267,75343Nevada47.9152,26158.7186,57844Nebraska38.275,08446.190,67645California36.71,431,99337.81,476,07346Massachusetts32.6227,92837.1259,24847Rhode Island25.527,90034.737,93648New York22.7447,56723.6464,57549New Jersey18.1167,74024.1223,43750Hawaii13.118,84212.317,707

(The Center Square) - Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is working with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation on the probe into the loss of taxpayer dollars involving the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation and Swadley’s Bar-B-Q.

A report from the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency showed overspending by Swadley's Bar-B-Q, which was contracted in 2020 to operate restaurants at state parks.

"Nearly $6 million in expenses were related to construction costs, management fees, and reimbursements," according to the report. "OTRD also covered more than $2 million in operational losses for the contracted restaurant vendor. Recent expenditures on several restaurants located within state parks exceed Parks' estimate of the restaurant's replacement value multiple times."

Drummond said in a news release that he spoke with Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna, who directed the OSBI to disclose the investigation to the attorney general.

"The Office of Attorney General is the appropriate entity to determine if the findings merit prosecution and, if they do, to prosecute any wrongdoers," Drummond said in a statement. "One of my top priorities in this office is to end the culture of corruption and scandal. Oklahomans deserve true accountability in government.”

The state ended its contract with Swadley's in April 2022. The restaurant company received $16.7 million to operate restaurants at the state parks.

OTRD Executive Director Jerry Winchester resigned in April.

Sen. Roger Thompson, R-Okemah, introduced legislation that increases oversight of the OTRD.

Thompson's bill would restore the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Commission and give it the authority to hire and fire the executive director and establish their salary. That authority currently rests with the governor. Lawmakers will consider the bill when they begin the 2023 legislative session on Feb. 6.

This is the second investigation Drummond has taken over from the Oklahoma County District Attorney. Earlier this month, Drummond announced he would take the lead in the prosecution against the founders of Epic Charter Schools.

Ben Harris, David Chaney and Josh Brock are charged with embezzlement of state funds, racketeering, obtaining money by false pretense, conspiracy to commit a felony, violation of the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act, submitting false documents to the state and unlawful proceeds.

(The Center Square) – A federal tax mandate has been shot down by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appellate court ruled a tax mandate tucked into the American Rescue Plan Act that would have prohibited states from using federal funds under the law to “either directly or indirectly” offset any tax decreases or delays in tax increases was unconstitutional.

The court rendered a unanimous decision, granting a permanent injunction against the mandate. Under the ruling, according to a release, the federal government is barred from enforcing the tax mandate against New Hampshire.

“The ARPA tax mandate was an improper and unconstitutional intrusion on the rights of New Hampshire’s elected policymakers to make decisions regarding state tax policy,” New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in the release.

Under the 2020 law, which was a $1.9 billion aid package created to mitigate the economic and public health impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, states would have been required to prove their compliance with the mandate and other requirements in order to receive ARPA funds. If states didn’t certify, the U.S. Treasury was authorized to seek a return of the federal dollars.

U.S. Circuit Judge Andrew L. Brasher, in his opinion, wrote the “Constitution doesn’t grant the federal government the authority to require states to enact the laws or policies of Congress.” However, he said the law does grant Congress “the power of the purse.”

Brasher went on to write that the federal government “can’t control state conduct directly,” but Congress “often uses the power of tax and spend as a work-around” in an effort to give federal funds in exchange for establishing certain programs or enacting laws.”

The appeal, Brasher wrote, was about the limits of that authority.

“The offset provision in ARPA funds “to either directly or indirectly offset a reduction in [their] net tax revenue” that would result from a change in law that “reduces any tax,” Brasher wrote.

The states argued that the tax mandate written into the law “exceeded Congress’s authority under the Constitution,” Brasher continued.

New Hampshire joined the lawsuit with Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia.

(The Center Square) – Kinney County, Texas, Sheriff Brad Coe is pleading for help from his colleagues in three states as his department is overwhelmed by the surge in foreign nationals crossing the border illegally who are "wreaking havoc in our communities.”

Coe sent letters to sheriffs in all 254 counties of Texas, all 75 counties in Arkansas and all 77 counties in Oklahoma asking for help to defend his residents from the surge in illegal immigration.

The border crisis “has made all counties a border county,” he argues, and it’s “imperative that we stand ready here at the border in order to protect and serve.”

Kinney County was the first to issue a disaster declaration in Texas, on April 21, 2021. It also was the first to declare an invasion on July 5, 2022. One of the smallest, rural counties in Texas, it shares 16 miles of border with Mexico.

As mostly single young military age men enter Texas illegally through ports of entry and intentionally evade law enforcement, they commit a range of crimes, he said, including engaging in shootouts with law enforcement. DPS state troopers and sheriffs from Goliad and Galveston counties have provided assistance, but the volume of men coming through mostly from Central American countries is too much for them to apprehend, he said.

Even with the aid, law enforcement officers “are stretched to the breaking point to successfully maintain operations. We are therefore expanding our request and calling upon the people of Texas and beyond for your help,” he wrote fellow sheriffs.

Coe’s county of only two stoplights “consists of 3,129 souls” who heavily rely on ranching and hunting to sustain themselves. Coe, who’s one of the sheriffs who's most familiar with the Texas-Mexico border, is a retired Border Patrol agent. He said he knows where people are coming in and how to stop them. And he’s never seen the volume he’s seeing now, he told The Center Square.

Coe is asking other sheriffs to provide manpower, equipment and operational assistance. The county also needs help on the judicial and prosecutorial side, County Attorney Brent Smith told The Center Square. Although they’ve received some from the state, it’s not enough, Smith said. All the funding from the state’s Operation Lone Star already has been allocated, he added.

“Our homes are being broken into in the middle of the night,” Coe wrote his colleagues. “The local school district has been forced to erect military barricades around campus to protect students from smugglers evading law enforcement. Walking outside on our own property after dark is no longer safe. The residents of Kinney County no longer enjoy the comfort and safety of their own home. Words cannot adequately describe the conditions on the ground and the daily threats we have been forced to contend with.”

“Under normal circumstances, our county would not support a large or robust law enforcement presence,” he continued. “However, these are extraordinary times.”

Despite being overrun, outnumbered and stretched thin, he maintains hope, saying he’s “empowered by our constitution, our citizens, and our governor to establish working coalitions and taskforces to uphold the law and ensure the peace in our state.”

He also cites authorization from the governor to form coalitions to “combine their resources and coordinate their activities to successfully protect their own residents.”

Texas has borne the brunt of illegal activity stemming from the border as nearly 1.8 million people were apprehended or evaded capture by Border Patrol agents in fiscal 2022, according to data obtained by The Center Square.

While private military contractors have previously offered support, their costs are prohibitive, exceeding the entire county’s budget, Kinney County Sheriff spokesperson Matt Benacci told The Center Square, with start-up costs in the million-dollar range.

Funding received from the state must be approved by the state and these funds have already been allocated or spent, including on prosecutorial and judicial support and hiring additional law enforcement officers, purchasing equipment and other resources, he said.

Smith, who’s office was the first to successfully prosecute criminal trespassers through Operation Lone Star, told The Center Square that his office is helping to prosecute a volume of cases that only larger counties would normally handle. With only one secretary assisting him, his office went from prosecuting 10 cases a month to 500 last February. Those numbers have only gone up, he said..

Since August 2021, Kinney County officers have made more than 5,000 arrests on misdemeanor and evading on foot charges, far exceeding the number of arrests made in all Texas border counties.

Smuggling arrests in fiscal 2022 in Kinney County totaled 3,045, according to data obtained by The Center Square from the District Attorney’s office. By comparison, they totaled 67 in fiscal 2021 and 64 in fiscal 2020.

All felony arrests and charges from January 2021 to January 2023 totaled 5,524, according to the DA’s office. And arrests would be higher if there were more law enforcement officers in the field, Smith said.

On Friday, Border Patrol agents encountered a group of single men who’d stolen an all-terrain vehicle, a rifle, several hundred rounds of ammunition and knives from a resident’s home, Smith said. That’s after others broke into another home. Thefts like this are a weekly occurrence, he said.

“If homeowners call DPS, there’s no one to respond,” he told The Center Square. “If they call Border Patrol, there’s no one to respond. If they call the sheriff’s office, there are no brush teams to respond. We’re literally on our own. We will take any aid from any law enforcement agency willing to help us.

“There may not be bullets and guns involved every day but what we’re dealing with is a war zone.”

Sheriffs interested in providing aid are encouraged to call Coe’s office.

(The Center Square) - Oklahoma Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, said he wants to stop financial institutions from sharing information about gun purchases.

Senate Bill 814 aims at stopping what Bergstrom calls a “backdoor” attempt at gun control. Three of the largest credit card companies announced a special code for firearms purchases last year. Twenty-eight members of Congress sent a letter to the financial institutions encouraging the companies to track the purchases.

“The politicians who sent the letter claimed the coding would help expose potential financing of terrorism, but the truth is, the end result is mass surveillance of constitutionally protected firearms and ammunition purchases,” Bergstrom said in a news release. “Make no mistake, their end game is gun control, which is why I’ve filed SB 814,” Bergstrom said. “If there’s a valid suspicion of criminal activity, law enforcement can always get a search warrant, but we’re not going to allow these companies to snoop on law-abiding citizens or intimidate them on behalf of the government.”

The bill would allow customers and merchants to file complaints against credit card companies that track firearms purchases without the customer’s written permission. Credit card companies could face penalties of $10,000 or a higher amount if it is determined that the actual damages are more than $10,000. If it is proven the financial institution intentionally tracked the purchase, the minimum award amount would be $25,000.

“Other states like Florida and West Virginia are looking at similar legislation,” Bergstrom said.

The bill, filed Wednesday, will be considered when lawmakers return to Oklahoma City on Feb. 6.

Gun control laws vary across the U.S., and five states and the District of Columbia currently impose a waiting period on prospective gun buyers. Waiting periods mandate that a specific amount of time must elapse between when a gun is purchased and when the buyer can possess it. Depending on the state, waiting periods range from three days to two weeks.

Designed to reduce the likelihood of an impulsive act of violence, waiting periods have been shown, in some studies, to reduce rates of firearm suicide by 7% to 11%, and gun-related homicides by about 17%. (Here is a look at the states where gun related crimes are surging.)

Though waiting periods may reduce gun violence to a degree, in reality, most firearms that wind up at crime scenes were purchased years prior. Among all known firearms linked to a crime in 2021, an average of 6.2 years has elapsed between the retail sale of the firearm and when it was recovered by law enforcement, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. This measure, known as "time-to-crime," can vary substantially from state to state, and these variations have meaningful implications. For any given firearm, the ATF considers a time-to-crime of less than three years a potential red flag for gun trafficking.

The average time-to-crime for a firearm recovered by law enforcement in Oklahoma is 6.6 years, the 23rd longest among states.

Of the 4,348 guns recovered in Oklahoma in 2021, 2,209, or 50.8%, were sold by a retailer within the last three years, and 1,235, or 28.4% were sold within one year.

All time-to-crime measures in this story are for firearms the ATF traced in 2021.

StateAverage Time-to-Crime (years)Total guns traced by ATFGuns recovered within 1-yr. of retail sale (%)Guns recovered within 3-yrs. of retail sale (%)Alabama5.627,45934.1%58.7%Alaska8.2960120.6%40.8%Arizona5.2810,06739.5%61.1%Arkansas5.72,91235.6%58.7%California8.9231,42923.8%41.6%Colorado6.595,69928.3%49.6%Connecticut9.071,13224.3%40.3%Delaware6.551,33034.8%56.8%Florida6.2928,39428.0%49.7%Georgia5.2217,56937.1%60.8%Hawaii15.98575.3%10.5%Idaho6.891,13623.9%46.4%Illinois5.6314,61034.2%56.0%Indiana5.278,64636.7%60.2%Iowa5.912,11834.6%56.4%Kansas6.233,46427.4%49.9%Kentucky5.145,64736.9%58.8%Louisiana5.9311,23734.6%55.4%Maine8.0337229.0%46.8%Maryland8.756,62622.2%41.1%Massachusetts8.122,06523.5%42.1%Michigan4.6810,52944.0%65.0%Minnesota6.273,75932.7%52.0%Mississippi5.234,09936.8%60.4%Missouri5.028,44632.7%57.2%Montana8.6685121.7%42.4%Nebraska7.651,77024.5%44.9%Nevada5.465,48237.9%59.5%New Hampshire8.2855123.4%43.4%New Jersey9.23,16920.8%39.9%New Mexico6.313,13632.5%55.3%New York9.476,80721.0%40.3%North Carolina6.0418,52332.6%55.7%North Dakota6.7959827.3%48.7%Ohio5.1817,98037.3%59.7%Oklahoma6.644,34828.4%50.8%Oregon8.344,27023.3%43.3%Pennsylvania6.7111,31235.1%54.6%Rhode Island5.8551135.4%54.6%South Carolina5.299,36135.6%58.6%South Dakota6.8656829.6%50.2%Tennessee5.6512,52032.9%56.0%Texas5.1638,75835.6%58.3%Utah6.792,48425.4%45.1%Vermont7.819425.3%46.9%Virginia5.4710,16437.5%60.5%Washington8.764,24821.3%39.9%West Virginia7.841,37127.1%46.7%Wisconsin5.186,07536.6%58.4%Wyoming8.2922822.8%42.5%