
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

Publish Date:
Friday, August 17, 2018