How ATF Traces Firearms

• A firearm is recovered by law enforcement.
• ATF receives recovery information in e-Trace.
• Trace reveals origin of firearm manufacturer or importer.
• Trace leads to the original Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL). (Not all traces may lead to the original FFL.  Sales sometimes lead beyond that to a subsequent FFL.) •FFL manually looks through firearm transaction records to find the first purchaser. (First purchaser is not always identified.  Sometimes traces lead to a more recent purchaser or an unlicensed purchaser.)

ATF performed 408,000 + trace requests in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017