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The Scope and Implications of a Tracing Mechanism for Small Arms ...

The Scope and Implications of a Tracing Mechanism for Small Arms ...

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100<br />

China Type 56<br />

Russia AK47<br />

Russia AKS47<br />

Bulgaria AK47<br />

Russia AK74<br />

Pol<strong>and</strong> AKSU<br />

Similarly, correct identification <strong>of</strong> all the elements which make up the<br />

complete unique marking <strong>for</strong> any weapon is critical but requires a high<br />

degree <strong>of</strong> specialist knowledge, <strong>and</strong> it is impractical to train all law<br />

en<strong>for</strong>cement <strong>and</strong> military personnel to this level. Hence training has to be<br />

limited to a small number <strong>of</strong> experts within a central agency <strong>for</strong> each<br />

country or region <strong>and</strong> access to their expertise by personnel in the field can<br />

be readily achieved using secure Internet channels.<br />

To add to the problems <strong>of</strong> investigators, there are a limited number <strong>of</strong><br />

arms manufacturers that produce either counterfeit copies or falsify<br />

markings to match those <strong>of</strong> another manufacturer. One reason is to increase<br />

sales by making their inferior weapons resemble those made by the world’s<br />

leading manufacturers. For example, the firearms shown below are<br />

manufactured in a particular East European country as HS 95 model<br />

h<strong>and</strong>guns falsely marked as “SIG Sauer” <strong>and</strong> “Smith <strong>and</strong> Wesson” pistols.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y bear some resemblance to the real weapon, but any police or military

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