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

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Indeed, even within a single country, a trace can require contact with
numerous individuals, from law enforcement officers, to firearms
company employees to innocent purchasers.
8
Record-keeping is a good example where the participation of the
industry can be quite beneficial. For example, many manufacturers
maintain records indefinitely, despite the fact that a particular State’s
laws would not require indefinite retention. This point was made at the
World Forum Sport Shooting Association Workshop, Sardinia, Italy, in
2000.
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It is important to note here the value of comprehensive tracing, i.e., the
tracing of every firearm recovered by law enforcement. Such
comprehensive tracing is recommended for every police agency
because of its value in identifying trafficking patterns, trends, crime
guns of choice, corrupt retailers or others in the chain of distribution,
etc.
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It should be noted that there are a relatively small number of firearms
enthusiasts and hobbyists who craft their own firearms “from scratch”
and may not mark their weapons in accordance with the laws
governing commercial and military manufacturers. Although it is
impossible to determine the number of firearms thus created, it is
believed to be fairly inconsequential compared to the number of
firearms commercially produced each year (over 3 million in the US in
1998).
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