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

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weapons belonging to illicit circuits. The exchange of information and
collaboration among States is thus made more difficult when it comes to
tracing these weapons. It is equally noteworthy that searching through the
different files—which are sketchy, disparate, or even in certain cases nonexistent—makes
tracing operations cumbersome.
The marking methods proposed must thus be applicable to the
weapons currently on the market. So far, the majority of these weapons
pose a problem for police forces, given that they are involved in all sorts of
trafficking activities and illicit circles (drugs, money laundering, etc.). The
absence of marking and monitoring of certain weapons encourages them to
be used fraudulently, and makes them even more difficult to identify.
To avoid this type of situation, a standard imposing the marking of
firearm components during the manufacturing process must be included in
marking standards.
The problem of antique weapons is a topical one. Data from the BATF
shows some interesting trends. The percentage of failures among the BATF’s
tracing operations demonstrates that, in spite of the technological advances
of the past few years, certain weapons are still either difficult or impossible
to trace since they have not been included in any registers. The BATF
furthermore has compiled a list of weapons that can no longer be traced,
dubbed: too old to trace. 22 This label comprises weapons dating back to the
beginning of the last century, for which it is impossible to consult a register.
Note that the BATF does not trace weapons that date from before 1990
because of the lack of registers necessary for tracing operations. 23 This is
why the technical (intrinsic) elements and the intelligence/investigative
(extrinsic) elements are necessary to a tracing operation and should be
integrated into these files. To conclude on the problem of old weapons, the
Small Arms Survey has also highlighted that all the innovations relating to
the tracing process “tended to be more effective with the registration of new
weapons and to ignore the stockpile of old weapons with no licence or
registration”. 24 Registration, like marking, is an indispensable element in
tracing operations. In this context, the Canadian example shows that the
majority of handguns involved in criminal affairs had not been registered
(see Table 5).