The concepts of traceable/untraceable

[Bang]

Many gun experts (the kind who think no one should have guns, but if they do, they need to conform to an outline) ring the warning bell about untraceable guns when undetectable guns such as the plastic Glock (circa 1980s) or 3-D printed guns come to being.

To the mindless, or just plain ignorant, "untraceable" contains the negative warning generating fear. Fear that untraceable guns will result in unsolved crime and the victim of a shooting or hold-up or some inferred criminal act will go without justice and the perpetrator will remain unknown, therefor unpunished.

Never mind that untraceable and undetectable knives made of non-metallic materials are out there in untold numbers. Well, not so much now that we have DNA tests.

Back to the untraceable gun. We have been living with them for a long long time, and will continue to do so.

Joe Blow has a handgun "hidden" in his home. A burglar breaks in, ransacks the house, finds valuables and the gun and leaves with them. Examination of the crime scene does not result in anything identifying the intruder, no one observed the perp, and so, the gun is now in the hands of an unknown criminal.

A shooting occurs in a city many miles from the victim of the burglary and a gun is found in a street culvert near the scene of the shooting. NCIC contains Joe Blow's report of the stolen gun. (If not reported stolen, ATF traces it to Joe Blow).

Police investigating the shooting now know the rightful owner of the gun who is readily eliminated as the shooter or any involvement in the event. The knowledge does not solve either the burglary of Joe's home, or the identity of the shooter.

For all intents and purposes relating to the two crimes, that is a traceable gun that acts untraceable. A dead end is a dead end no matter which road is taken to get there.

[rkrcpa]

People way over think the concept of untraceable. Say I bought a gun from some guy. Then say I no longer wanted said gun and sold it to some other guy.

I have no idea who I bought it from and he doesn't know me. I can't remember who I sold it to.

That gun is untraceable.