The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector (OIG) released a report today on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) National Tracing Center’s (NTC) policies and procedures for conducting firearm trace requests. NTC firearm traces provide critical information to assist domestic and foreign law enforcement agencies with solving firearm-related crimes, detecting firearm trafficking, and tracking the movement of guns used or suspected of being used in a crime.
The DOJ OIG’s audit found that the NTC kept up with an increasing number of trace requests while decreasing the time it took to fulfill the requests, but that further efficiencies will depend on the NTC’s ability to navigate multiple interrelated challenges that strain the limited personnel who fulfill the requests. Specifically:
- An increase in the backlog of unscanned firearm transaction records, which the NTC is legislatively mandated to receive and process before it can complete firearm traces, contributes to delays in completing firearm traces and meeting performance goals.
- The NTC did not have standardized and centralized firearm tracing procedures that detailed and memorialized the entire tracing process, which (if implemented) could improve the efficiency of firearm tracing services and prevent the loss of institutional knowledge.
- The NTC lacks outcome-based performance measures that assess the impact of traces on law enforcement investigations, such as arrests, prosecutions, or disruption of criminal activity.
The OIG made three recommendations to improve ATF’s management of the firearm tracing process. ATF agreed with all three recommendations.