Here are 10 facts about ATF’s gun tracking program

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives relies on gun tracing to identify the last known buyer of guns used in crimes. It’s an important investigative tool, but only if the guns are recovered within three years of the initial retail purchase, officials say.

ATF has traditionally only provided gun tracking information to law enforcement agencies, but the agency recently began releasing such data to the public under Freedom of Information Act requests.

Here are some facts about tracing.

–Licensed firearms dealers must respond to an ATF tracking request within 24 hours.

–Dealers are required to maintain an Acquisition and Disposition (A&D) record of every firearm purchased and sold. This information should include the manufacturer, model, serial number, type and caliber of the firearm, plus the dates and sources of purchase. The data must also include the names and addresses of private buyers.

–The eTrace computer system is available free of charge to law enforcement agencies. This allows police to develop investigative leads and reduce the time it takes to process a tracking request. Police can also use it to generate statistical reports and conduct analytical research.

–Mexico is the leading country in international firearms traces, accounting for 74% of the total.

–Texas is responsible for the majority of weapons smuggled from the US to Mexico, accounting for 43% of the total.

–According to US claims, more weapons confiscated in Mexico came from Houston than any other city, followed by Tucson, Phoenix, El Paso and San Antonio.

–73% of international tracking requests between 2017 and 2021 failed to identify the purchaser of the firearm.

–More than 623,000 tracking requests were processed in fiscal year 2022.

–Most of the failed traces were due to poor information provided by the police who recovered the gun, and the scratching of the gun’s serial numbers. Missing data from authorized dealers comprise approximately 5% of all failed gun traces.

–Most tracking requests from abroad concerned pistols between 2017 and 2021, accounting for 61% of the total. Rifles came in second with 26%.

Source: ATF