Everytown Releases Annual Crime Gun Recovery Report, Highlighting Spike in Glock Pistol Recoveries, Rise in 3D-Printed Firearms and Machine Gun Conversion Devices

Recoveries of Polymer80 Ghost Guns Dropped 43% Since 2022 Following Litigation, Regulation, and Grassroots Accountability Efforts Led by Everytown

Just Four Manufacturers – Glock, Taurus, Smith & Wesson, and Ruger – Accounted for 55% of All Guns Recovered in Crimes in 2024; Glock Alone Made Up 24.3%

NEW YORK – Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund and members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns today released their annual Crime Gun Recovery Report, which found that just four gun manufacturers – Glock, Taurus, Smith & Wesson, and Ruger – produced more than half of all guns recovered in crimes in 2024, despite the existence of more than 6,000 active licensed gun manufacturers nationwide. Glock alone accounted for nearly one in four recovered crime guns.

Even as gun homicides and overall crime gun recoveries decline, law enforcement are increasingly encountering the use of new and deadly firearm technology at crime scenes – 3D-printed gun recoveries have increased nearly 1,000 percent in the last five years across 20 major cities. In 2024, 28 cities reported over 1,100 Glock switch recoveries. Across the seventeen cities that reported five continuous years of Glock switch data, Glock switch recoveries increased seven-fold since 2020. And while they are not new, assault weapons are a growing problem, with police recoveries increasing by at least 27 percent since 2020.

“The findings of this report are unmistakable: a small group of gun manufacturers is driving the supply of weapons recovered at America’s crime scenes. These companies have chosen profits over public safety, refusing to take responsibility even as their products fuel violence,” said Nick Suplina, SVP of Law & Policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. “That era is over. We will continue advancing legislative, legal, and market-based reforms to hold them accountable — and as the steep decline in ghost-gun recoveries shows, when we act, we save lives. We’re bringing that same focus to emerging threats like 3D-printed firearms.”

“Tackling the national gun violence crisis requires every city doing its part, and that includes tracking and sharing the data that reveals the role the firearms industry plays in fueling violence in our communities,” said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Co-Chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. “My administration is committed to naming the make and model of crime guns whenever possible, and I urge mayors across the country to join us – because transparency is one of our strongest tools for holding bad actors across the gun industry accountable.”

Fifty-two U.S. cities across twenty-seven states provided Everytown with aggregate data on the manufacturers of recovered crime guns for inclusion in this analysis. Forty-nine cities provided comprehensive 2024 data, and forty-three provided five-year datasets, resulting in 349,322 recovered crime guns analyzed – one of the most extensive multi-city crime gun manufacturer datasets available in the country.

Key toplines from the report include:

• Of the over 20,000 licensed gun manufacturers in the United States, four manufacturers – Glock, Taurus, Smith & Wesson, and Ruger – accounted for 55 % of the guns recovered in crimes in 2024. 
• Glock pistols were recovered at crime scenes nearly twice as often as the second-leading manufacturer, Taurus. What’s more, Glock’s share of recovered crime guns rose from 18% in 2019 to 24% in 2024.
• Polymer80 ghost gun recoveries fell 43% between 2022 and 2024 following litigation, regulatory action, and federal, state and local accountability measures.
• Deadlier weapons and innovations – including assault weapons, machine gun conversion devices, and 3D-printed firearms – are showing up in greater numbers, even as overall crime gun recoveries decline.
• Half of the 1.7 million traced crime guns from 2019–2023 were recovered at a crime scene within three years of their initial retail sale, according to ATF data, a strong indicator of trafficking and diversion into the illegal market.
• More cities are tracking new threats, with 28 cities collecting data on 3D-printed guns and 28 cities reporting over 1,100 “Glock switch” recoveries in 2024 alone.

Everytown’s analysis highlights why the gun industry’s pattern of avoiding responsibility is no longer tenable. A small group of manufacturers is producing the majority of the guns recovered in crimes, and the industry continues to flood communities with increasingly deadly weapons while disclaiming any role in the violence their products cause. The report outlines basic and common-sense safeguards that gun manufacturers must adopt to stop the flow of crime guns, including:

1. Requiring dealers to adhere to a public code of conduct and end contracts with those who violate it.
2. Tracking and monitoring ATF trace requests and carefully scrutinizing, and potentially ending, relationships with dealers that account for a disproportionate percentage of crime guns.
3. Requiring manufacturers to be notified by ATF of all traces regardless of whether the trace was completed through NTC Connect.
4. Regularly performing manufacturer audits of dealers to ensure regulatory compliance, and requiring that they provide reports detailing all ATF inspections and violations.
5. Committing to developing safer firearms, including those that cannot be operated by unauthorized users or fire unintentionally, accept high-capacity magazines, or be modified with machine gun conversion devices.
6. Dedicating funds to advertising campaigns that inform the public about the risks of firearm trafficking and straw purchasing, the importance of secure storage and training, and connections to mental health services.

Governments at every level also play a critical role in this fight, and can contribute to curbing the crisis by expanding crime gun tracing, strengthening oversight of the firearm supply chain, regulating dangerous firearm technology, closing loopholes, collecting and making public the names of the manufacturers of recovered crime guns, and using purchasing power and litigation to pressure irresponsible manufacturers to change course.