I checked, and he was right. A lot of guns are illegally gained, but not actually stolen. Most of the time, criminals will get someone else to buy it, or bribe the dealer.
But, very few guns are smuggled in from abroad, or stolen from the military. It's only when civilians can easily get guns that gun crime becomes a big problem.
"[Legal purchases from] Virginia are the number one source for illegal guns entering New York." http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/investigators...