National Tracing Center

E55149

The National Tracing Center is the primary U.S. facility responsible for tracing firearms used in crimes to support law enforcement investigations nationwide.


Statements (48)
Predicate Object
instanceOf federal law enforcement facility
firearms tracing center
city Martinsburg
country United States
dataSource federally licensed firearms dealers
firearms importers
firearms manufacturers
firearms wholesalers
employer ATF special agents
firearms tracing specialists
industry operations investigators
goal assist in identifying firearms trafficking patterns
identify the first retail purchaser of a firearm recovered in a crime
support criminal investigations and prosecutions
handles crime gun trace requests
firearms theft trace requests
firearms trafficking investigations support
hasDivision Crime Gun Intelligence Center (tracing component)
jurisdiction United States
nationwide
legalBasis Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
Gun Control Act of 1968
legalConstraint prohibited from maintaining a searchable centralized registry of firearms
location Martinsburg, West Virginia
notableFeature maintains large volumes of out-of-business firearms dealer records
only U.S. facility dedicated solely to firearms tracing
operatedBy Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
parentAgency United States Department of Justice
partOf Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
primaryFunction support law enforcement investigations
trace firearms used in crimes
process electronic processing of trace requests
manual searching of paper and microfilm records
serves federal law enforcement agencies
international law enforcement partners
local law enforcement agencies
state law enforcement agencies
specialization firearms records research
firearms tracing
state West Virginia
supports firearms trafficking investigations
homicide investigations
organized crime investigations
terrorism-related firearms investigations
supportsProgram ATF crime gun intelligence efforts
eTrace
usesMethod firearms transaction record analysis
serial number tracing

Referenced by (1)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
operates

Please wait…