Abstract
A growing number of jurisdictions have adopted a policy of submitting all firearms confiscated by the police for tracing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. A successful trace establishes the identity of both the buyer and the seller at the first retail sale. Promising but controversial uses for these data include: (1) informing strategic planning for supply-side interdiction efforts directed against the illicit market in firearms; (2) targeting specific dealers and traffickers for enforcement action; and (3) providing an empirical basis for evaluating laws regulating firearms commerce. This article assesses each of these uses in general terms and then reports the results of a new analysis of 1999 firearms-trace data, documenting some of the patterns relevant to informing a supply-side effort. The third use is illustrated by an analysis of the effects of the Brady Law on gun trafficking to Chicago.
How to Cite
43 Ariz. L. Rev. 277 (2001)
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