>> As you've heard, Illinois has some of the nation's strictest gun laws.

However, firearm legislation in neighboring states has a significant impact on Illinois.

Despite all the restrictions and regulations in place, illegal gun trafficking still poses a problem.

Here to talk more about gun violence issues and potential solutions are Kobe Williams, director of Cure Violence Global, a Public safety initiative that treats violence as a health epidemic.

Kim Smith, director of national programs and external engagement at the University of Chicago Crime Lab in Education Lab.

And Christopher Amman, special agent in charge for the ATF's Chicago Field Division.

Thanks all of you for joining us.

So especially let's start with you, please.

Last week we know that the Chicago Police Department said so far this year, almost 8500 illegal guns have been taken off the streets.

That is slightly ahead of where we were this time last year, according to their numbers, set the stage for us.

From your perspective, how would you describe or qualify the flow of illegal in Illinois?

So it's a constant it's a constant problem.

However, it's one that's growing.

So I think we're on track this year for more than 12,000 firearm recoveries here in the city of Chicago.

These are crime guns.

mean, these are guns that are recovered.

>> In the commission of a crime or by somebody who's not allowed to have those firearms.

So one of the things we do at ATF is collaborate on this problem to try to stop that flow.

But also to address the violent crime.

So to address the shooter, unfortunately, you have to me of both.

You have too many illegal guns flowing into Chicago and then you have a group of people who are willing to use them to inflict damage against our citizens.

So ATF, few public safety is paramount.

So we work with our partners, Chicago Police, Department, federal, state and local agencies to try to go after the shooters and their sources of crime, guns.

>> Kim Smith, what do we know about where these guns are coming from?

>> We've looked at the data a few times partnered with Chicago Police Department, the city of Chicago mayor's office really trying to understand where these guns coming from because as a special agent said every year thousands of guns are recovered and in Chicago, but there are no gun stores.

So when we look at the data, we see that 40% of illegal firearms actually originate from Illinois.

A lot of them from suburban Cook County, but 60% are coming from other states neighboring states.

So there's both an interstate and then intrastate dynamic.

>> The city did some research on this in 2014 2017 or are there plans to continue this research?

>> I don't know.

I think that's really up to the city leadership.

But I will say that the work that was done in 2014 2017, I think, is something that many other cities and states even have looked to and replicated.

So I would hope to see a continuation of that in future.

So sounds like something that would be useful then for the work that the folks at table here that are sitting here do as people, you know, who care a lot about data.

We think that more data is is generally a good thing.

It helps us understand the scope of the problem and opportunities to improve the status quo.

Kobe, you've written a book interrupting violence.

You tell your own story from, you know, going from being a leader in a notorious gang.

2 leading advocacy work for violence, intervention in the work that you do today.

What did you see or what do you know as far as why people carry guns and how they how they get them?

>> I mean, I you know, growing up in the community where we grew up it >> Goes was like more like a protection, you know, just to have it, you know, asset.

And I think was always we want to get caught with it than without it.

So now, when look now, 30 years later, guns and violence making our country So we got to do more.

So when I say do more, I think we gotta continue to invest more money into violence.

Prevention programs, CBF work in the community and now local because I look at the person like myself in them out of my colleagues in the bottom will work with all over the world violence prevention.

We see a big impact in reducing shoot kill him in the community.

We really see that every day.

I look at a person like myself who was in prison now present to public speaking with Census does not want being a success story.

So it's all about investing more in the community invest more with the brothers assist us.

In this field every day because they making a big difference.

Toledo shooting and killing in the communities every day.

And I think that be talked about enough, though.

>> Special agent talk to us if you would, about crime, gun intelligence.

What is that and how does it work in Chicago?

So there's 2 main tenets of our crime, gun intelligence strategy.

As I mentioned earlier, the first is to address those pulling the trigger in the second is the source of crime, guns to achieve that.

Atf uses 2 important databases are tree system that allows us to trace a farm recovered back to the original point of sale so we can identify that point of diversion.

So when it went from a legal commerce stream to legal commerce was recovered or crime seconds are not even system.

This helps us late shootings throughout Chicago and throughout the region and throughout the country.

So this helps us recover cartridge cases, a crime scenes and turn them into a network of millions of images that connect the shootings.

So what we try to do, theirs focus our efforts on those who are possessing and using guns that are used in other shootings.

So we built a look at That small population of those who are actually pulling the trigger as opposed to those that may be possessing guns for other reasons.

what we find from the data I mentioned those 12,000 gun recoveries in Chicago, about 20% are linked ballistic lead to another shooting.

So what we do in our crime gun intelligence center with our partners every day as we're f-king on focusing on that population that needs the attention of federal, state and local law enforcement.

With our limited resources.

So can that technology can I mean, it sounds like it could help you solve crimes, committed with guns and take them off the streets.

Can it deter gun trafficking?

>> Absolutely.

So one of the things we're doing, we're tracing that gun.

We're focusing ATF also in addition to a criminal enforcement mission, we regulate the firearms industry as well.

So we regulate federally.

>> Licensed firearms dealers across the country.

So again, intelligence base mean that we have to focus our efforts on the crime, guns that are being supplied and sourced crime.

Gun intelligence helps us focus our efforts to on federal firearms licensees that we need to inspect who may be sources of crime, guns, individuals who may be sources of crime, guns who are dealing without a license with outside of that whole process.

So really a crime gun intelligence does is helps us focus.

Our effort helps to solve crime and make sure that we're focusing on the right people for federal enforcement.

>> Kim, based on your research, what are some of the like the kind of scary and startling trends that you all have been noticing with regards to casings, fatality rates.

My colleagues, Jacob Miller and against Ludwig released some research earlier this year and shed light on the increasing fatality rate in the city of Chicago.

So what that means is?

>> There are thousands of shootings every year.

Some of them are are homicides and the likelihood that a shooting turned into a homicide has increased.

We've also seen an increase in the number of shell casings that Chicago police discover covering 10 years ago.

One percent of shooting incident have 10, 20 or more sorry, shell casings.

But last year on 16% of the crime scenes shooting crime scenes that Chicago police responded to had or shell casings.

We've also seen an increase in the number of Glock switches that Chicago PD is recovering.

So that means that you can transform a semiautomatic firearm into firearm that can, you know, let out 100 rounds without reloading at machine gun pay.

So there are a lot of of really troubling trends on the horizon.

>> Kobe, I'm gonna let you have the last word.

Almost got about a minute left on that.

Obviously community violence intervention is something that you certainly advocate a lot for.

Is there room for, you know, collaboration between the work that you do and law enforcement is.

I know there's not always a lot of community trust there.

Yeah, but I everybody got a role to play, you know, and all.

>> I think it's important, you know, a lot of places like I see not just Chicago, but places.

It's important you know, someplace law enforcement, you know, let do what we got to do.

Our part.

But when they step into it, we know to step back do because we tend to focus on stopping the shooting, killing on the front before it happened.

Wants to happen with long for to step in to got to got a job to do like we got a job to do.

But we focus on assets.

It has behavior before will take place.

So I think it's everybody to do a role.

But this.

It is a thin line.

Well, you know, our credibility everything.

So to have that trust in this community, we got to have that trust with people would listen to or where they will come.

Talk to us a nice and about if they created a me created a crime would at this idiot that would have to trust where we CA tab to help chased a think.

And that's what we tried to do.

Indeed, lot of work cut out