Cite? It'd be an interesting tidbit to have.
I don't believe the cite.
Numbers are from the feds: the BJS, FBI, and the ATF via the NRA-ILA.
There are three ways to get guns illegally: straw purchases (nearly 50%), theft, and private sales to prohibited people (less than 1%). No percentage is listed for thefts, but if nearly 50% are straw purchases, and less than 1% are private sales, then the remainder "theft" must be about 50%.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the vast majority of criminals in state prison for gun crimes get guns through theft, on the black market, from a drug dealer or “on the street.”
Less than one percent get guns from gun shows. (Private sales not requiring background checks).
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), “The most frequent type of trafficking channel identified in ATF investigations is
straw purchasing from federally licensed firearms dealers. Nearly 50 percent. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, “about 1.4 million guns, or an annual average of 232,400, were stolen during burglaries and other property crimes in the six-year period from 2005 through 2010.”
The FBI’s stolen firearm file contained over 2 million reports as of March 1995.The BATFE has reported “Those that steal firearms commit violent crimes with stolen guns, transfer stolen firearms to others who commit crimes, and create an unregulated secondary market for firearms, including a market for those who are prohibited by law from possessing a gun.”
Catherine Mortensen
Media Liaison
NRA, Institute for Legislative Action
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/07/daniel-zimmerman/nra-debunks-bogus-universal-background-check-justification/