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

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19 and other identifiers and history, is collected and retained in databases. This then needs to be retrieved in a reliable and timely fashion. Much weapons tracing is carried out domestically, tracing sources and lines of supply within the country concerned. But many illicit arms arrive through transnational trafficking routes, making international tracing cooperation essential. In the UN Programme of Action, the UN Firearms Protocol, and numerous regional agreements, participating States have committed themselves to cooperate in tracing illicit SALW, and to strengthen their capacity to do so. Weapons tracing is perhaps most regularly and intensively carried out for purposes of law enforcement and crime prevention. Yet, tracing is also carried out to investigate, prevent or disrupt: losses from military and other official stocks; illicit trafficking to terrorists, rebel groups and war zones; and attempts to break arms embargoes. Tracing involves a number of key steps: 33 • correctly identify the weapon (or component or ammunition); • establish the legal status of the weapon (legal, illicit?); • determine the source and line of supply of the weapon by identifying its manufacturer or importer and tracing its subsequent history; and • identify the point of its diversion from the legal sphere. In police and other investigations, the process often continues, as follows: • determine, where possible, the chain of possession since diversion; • determine the possible criminal use of the weapon before or after diversion; and • reassess the evidential value of the weapon in a criminal investigation. 1.5.2 Systems for Weapons Tracing by Law Enforcement Agencies Any system for weapons tracing must be based on a framework of laws, regulations and law enforcement structures governing the manufacture, transfer and record-keeping of arms and their parts, components and ammunition. Such laws establish whether particular weapons can be legally held, and the conditions for their manufacture, possession, use and sale.
20 They clarify whether a weapon is illicitly supplied or held, and provide the context in which the police may initiate a trace. Good law minimizes ambiguity: if a weapon is not legal, it should be illegal. Cooperation with industry is in practice a critical element of an effective tracing system. In States with a significant commercial firearms industry, manufacturers and dealers not only help to ensure adequate and unique marking and effective record-keeping, but are also an important repository of expertise. 34 The same can be said of military and Statecontrolled arms factories and institutions. A bewildering array of models, types and variants of weapons, components and ammunition has been produced during the past hundred years. A successful tracing system can require substantial expertise in identifying such weapons. Working links to the arms industry are essential as it employs many of the most prominent experts. Firearms tracing for law enforcement purposes has a long history, and a variety of supporting institutions have evolved to support it. These include individual State institutions, as well as commercial, regional and international organizations. Tracing capabilities vary widely among countries. The US has developed one of the most extensive systems, not least because of the vast number of firearms owned by US citizens and because of the country’s importance as a world producer. Operating under the jurisdiction of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the National Tracing Center (NTC) operates around the clock and accepts trace requests from throughout the world for US source crime guns, including firearms that have either been manufactured in the US or legally imported. The NTC maintains data on stolen firearms, firearms with obliterated serial numbers, firearms which are thought to have been trafficked but have not yet been recovered in crime, and suspicious multiple sales of firearms to the same individual. It also keeps more than 300 million individual transaction records from out-of-business dealers. ATF estimates that it traces about 240,000 firearms each year. 35 National tracing centres, such as NTC, also play an important role in encouraging and facilitating more systematic weapons tracing activities at the local or State/provincial level. 36 ATF also demonstrates the value of systematic cooperation between national weapons tracing authorities and
Page 1 and 2: UNIDIR/2002/20 The Scope and Implic
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS Page Preface. . . . . . .
Page 5: v Chapter 4 Structures and Institut
Page 8 and 9: viii point of diversion, thus inhib
Page 11 and 12: ACRONYMS ATFUS BATF BPA CFR CFR CIC
Page 13 and 14: xiii VIN WFSA WIES WR Vehicle Ident
Page 15 and 16: 2 and lines of supply of illicit SA
Page 17 and 18: 4 First, if a weapon has been invol
Page 19 and 20: 6 The UN Programme of Action includ
Page 21 and 22: 8 1.3 MARKING 1.3.1 Introduction A
Page 23 and 24: 10 uniquely identify each productio
Page 25 and 26: 12 • Ensure, at the time of trans
Page 27 and 28: 14 • increasing the resistance of
Page 29 and 30: 16 The UN Firearms Protocol, in its
Page 31: 18 component of this project is to
Page 35 and 36: 22 Though such systems have great p
Page 37 and 38: 24 have a more prominent role to pl
Page 39 and 40: 26 That said, national intelligence
Page 41 and 42: 28 training and technical assistanc
Page 43 and 44: 30 This highlights one of the most
Page 45 and 46: 32 An international tracing mechani
Page 47 and 48: 34 Some of the necessary elements a
Page 49 and 50: 36 on sources and lines of supply o
Page 51 and 52: 38 In promoting international assis
Page 53 and 54: 40 3 Programme of Action to Prevent
Page 55 and 56: 42 25 This section draws on discuss
Page 58 and 59: 45 BIBLIOGRAPHY Berkol, Ilhan, Mark
Page 60 and 61: CHAPTER 2 WHAT TO MARK AND WHAT TO
Page 62 and 63: 49 tracing method for all SALW (con
Page 64 and 65: 51 Figure 2: : The different sub-ca
Page 66 and 67: 53 In order to better grasp the pro
Page 68 and 69: 55 SALW include weapons of war, def
Page 70 and 71: 57 The following questions should t
Page 72 and 73: 59 All of this data, while useful f
Page 74 and 75: 61 2.5 WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA FOR IN
Page 76 and 77: 63 traced, but which ones? Precisel
Page 78 and 79: 65 Table 1: Firearms recovered in c
Page 80 and 81: 67 explosives belts and dozens of t
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69 This data provides an interestin
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71 weapons belonging to illicit cir
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73 imagine being able to effectivel
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75 case of Switzerland, it would be
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77 electronics in animal identifica
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79 based our reflection on goals fo
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81 10 Small Arms Survey, Annuaire s
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APPENDIX 1 83
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APPENDIX 3 85
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87 the army weapon is capable of au
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90 significance, hence in general t
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92 3.1.2 Sanitization Removal or ob
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94 Chinese Type 56-1 Unique Identif
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96 verify that the imported weapons
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98 weapons. There are risks involve
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100 China Type 56 Russia AK47 Russi
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102 channels, with the protection o
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104 3.1.9 Comments Countries seekin
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106 as a result, potentially tip-of
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108 2. All markings must be made pe
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110 shared encryption standard. The
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112 Domestic record-keeping varies
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114 Nevertheless, whilst the Wassen
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116 individual weapon, should as a
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118 • “Consolidation”—4 x 2
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120 With the scope of the Protocol
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122 The South African authorities a
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124 • (Tracing) Details of all st
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126 tracing Chinese weapons. Conseq
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128 circulating information by fax
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130 Tracing requests are normally c
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132 encourage countries along the t
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134 close enough to provide adequat
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136 3. If Interpol is not up to the
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138 which restrict the amount of in
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140 9 It was notable during negotia
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142
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144 There are other reasons as well
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146 Laws Firearms are a durable com
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148 This last point should not be u
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150 the future a firearm tracing qu
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152 There are several important ele
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154 Canada, nearly all transfers re
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156 accuracy and man-hour effective
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158 industry practices. An effectiv
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160
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162 manner in national (and possibl
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164 routine stockpile management. A
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166 International regulations on th
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168 2. The definitions of weapons,
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170 enable national authorities to
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172 serial number of the firearm. T
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174 9. Explosives: the recommendati
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176 • The States parties undertak
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178 • The following is establishe
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180 International regulations on th
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182 • The participating States ag
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184 The Convention on Plastic Explo
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186 5.3.1 European Joint Action The
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188 years in July 2001. In December
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190 • States must make efforts to
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192 a greater degree of harmonizati
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194 this may lead to the undesirabl
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196 28 Or at least difficult or imp
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198 49 Speech by Mr. Koffi Adjouman
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200 in its capacity as President of
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202 Table 1: Scope of the Seven Pri
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204 Table 1 (continued) Characteris
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206 Characteristics of the marking
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208 Characteristics of the marking
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210 Characteristics of the recordke
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212 Characteristics of the record-k
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214 Table 4: Comparison of the Stan
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216 Characteristics of the exchange
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218
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