Mayors Against Illegal Guns - Trace Data Center

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Gun trace data, which is collected and maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), is a critical tool for law enforcement to track illegal gun crimes and trafficking.

This online Trace Data Center collects trace data and related reports released by ATF and provides the public, including local, state and federal officials, with the coalition's analysis of this data.

The Trace Data Center also includes the coalition's own report, The Movement of Illegal Guns in America: The Link Between Gun Laws and Interstate Gun Trafficking, which analyzes ATF trace data and finds that states that supply crime guns at the highest rates have comparatively weak gun laws.

The Trace Data Center also provides data recently released by the FBI to the coalition about the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is the federal database through which background checks are done by federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs).

Coalition Report: The Movement of Illegal Guns in America
The coalition analyzed the 2006 and 2007 state-by-state trace data released by ATF to report previously unreported trends in the movement of illegal guns across state lines and to assess some of the factors that may be driving these trends. The report finds that states that supply crime guns at the highest rates have comparatively weak gun laws.
Read a summary of the report
Download the full report (in PDF)
Read the coalition’s December 5 press release about the report

Data from the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS)
The coalition requested specific information from the FBI regarding the NICS background check system in an effort to better understand how NICS can be quicker and more effective. In October 2008, the FBI responded to this request and provided extensive information regarding NICS background checks.
Read more about NICS data

2006 and 2007 State Trace Data Reports
ATF released trace data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for 2006 and 2007. These reports include the number of crime guns recovered in each state, the top source states, and a breakdown of recovered guns by type of gun.
Read ATF's 2007 state trace reports
Read ATF's 2006 state trace reports

New York City Trace Reports
In 2006 and 2007, ATF released trace data for New York City, including the total number of crime guns recovered, top source states, breakdown of recovered guns by type and time-to-crime statistics. To date, ATF has not yet released comparable data for other cities, but it has indicated that it intends to do so.
Read ATF's 2007 NYC trace analysis (in PDF)
Read ATF's 2006 NYC trace analysis (in PDF)

Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Reports
Until 2002, ATF released Crime Gun Trace Reports for cities participating in the ATF's Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative. These reports include national and city trends.
2000 data
1999 data
1998 data
1997 data

Commerce in Firearms Report
ATF released Commerce in Firearms in the United States in 2000 to provide information about the firearms market and to describe ATF's initiatives to prevent illegal gun trafficking. This report emphasizes the importance of trace data in linking crime guns to criminals.
Read the report (in PDF)

Following the Gun Report
ATF released Following the Gun: Enforcing Federal Laws Against Firearms Traffickers in 2000. This report highlights the number of ATF investigations that are prompted by trace data.
Read the report (in PDF)

Methodological Notes About ATF's Collection and Dissemination of Trace Data

Traced firearms do not represent all crime guns. While there is a strong relationship between the number of guns that are traced and the number of guns used in crime, these figures are not identical. This disparity occurs in large part because all guns used in crimes are not recovered and there are differences in tracing practices among police departments; some jurisdictions trace all guns while others do not.

Not all efforts to trace guns are successful. In order to trace a gun, ATF relies on accurate record-keeping by gun manufacturers, gun wholesalers, and gun retailers. Failure to keep complete records or failure to comply with ATF requests can make it impossible to trace particular firearms. In a significant number of trace attempts, ATF is not able to determine all the relevant information about the initial retail sale of the subject firearm.

Not all source states are identified in ATF trace reports. For every recovery state, the ATF trace reports released in 2006 and 2007 identify the 15 states that are the largest sources for crime guns. For guns that come from states that are not among the top 15 sources, ATF provides only generic identification that these guns came from out-of-state sources. In 2007, ATF reported the identity of 80.5% of the 42,450 crime guns that crossed state lines before being recovered in a crime.

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