YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO ACROSS STATE LINES.

Many of the firearms used in Chicago's ongoing carnage come from Chicago area stores.

The Tribune reported on the study, a collaboration among the mayor’s office, Chicago police and University of Chicago Crime Lab, in advance of its official release.

The report found that “roughly two out of every five of Chicago’s crime guns come into the city from Illinois source dealers, making Illinois the single largest source state for Chicago’s illegal guns.”

The report also found that nearly one-fourth of guns recovered at crime scenes over a recent four-year period came from just 10 Chicago-area businesses.

Since Chicago does not have gun stores operating within city limits, the revelation that guns used in crimes here have come from outside the city is not new. But [Chicago police superintendent Eddie] Johnson said the new data are evidence the state can do more to regulate gun shops from surrounding areas.

“Details in this report clearly highlight the need for additional legislative action to help stymie the illegal flow of guns in Chicago,” Johnson said.

Apparently, contra Chuck Todd, it's not smuggling from Indiana.  But there's probably more at work than more stringent statewide constraints on firearm sales.

Johnson argues that the legislation is part of a broader attempt to put together “a comprehensive solution” to the gun crime problem. He pointed to New York and California as states that have stronger regulations on guns and whose cities don’t have the same levels of gun crime as seen in Chicago.

That sounds like opportunities for additional research.