There was a thread a week ago or so and the question of an ATF database came up. There were apparently some misinformation put out by a TV program and after a little discussion I realized I didn't know what I thought I knew.

So I talked to some friends & family members who actually work at the ATF tracing center and asked them some questions. They commented on how the TV show was inaccurate on many aspects. None of them could remember specifics, but told me they’d think about it and let me know what was said which was inaccurate.

So, straight from the horse’s mouth:

Q1. Do the manufacturers (i.e. Remington, Taurus, etc) have to, by law, submit the serial number of every gun they produce to the ATF?

A1. No. There is no mandatory reporting from the manufacturer. However many larger manufacturers do submit their information voluntarily. This info IS placed into a database.

Q2. Describe the tracing process.

A2. Joe Cop finds a gun next to a dead body. For example lets say the gun is a Smith & Wesson Model 10 with a serial # of D123456. He takes the make, model and SN from the gun and sends that info to the ATF (fax, internet and snail mail systems exist). The ATF begins the tracing process by either checking the voluntary database or calling the mfgr. S&W checks their records and tells the ATF the name of the distributor, MegaGuns, the call ends. ** The ATF then calls MegaGuns and asks them who they sold the gun to, Jims World of Guns (in this example). The ATF then calls JWoG and asks who they sold the gun to, JWoG replies they sold the gun to Bob Jones. At this point the actual ATF agent handling the case gets involved and visits Bob Jones. Agent Smith asks Mr. Jones where the gun is. Mr. Jones states he gave it to his son. Agent Smith then finds the son, Bob Jones Jr., and discovers Mr. Jones Jr. lost the gun in a poker game 2 years ago while he was on a 3 day bender in LasVegas and doesn’t remember the name of the guy he lost the gun to. The Agent may take action about the lack of paperwork in the transfer, but most likely will not as his main goal is tracing the ownership of the gun.

** If MegaGuns had gone out of business someone would have to manually dig through boxes and boxes of 4473s or search through microfilm to find that MegaGuns sold the gun to JWoG.

Q3. What about multiple sales?

A1. Any multiple sales have to be documented by the seller and sent in to the ATF which DOES maintain a database of guns reported as multiple sales. Multiple sales are defined as any handgun purchase with a 5 business day period.

I dislike being un- or misinformed about things, especially by tv shows which claim to be representing the truth. I also found I didn’t understand the tracing process as well as I thought I did and was also contributing to the misinformation. Therefore, I informed myself, and now am correcting my previous misinformation here.