A fascinating article on gun smuggling from the U.S. into Canada highlights the importance of gun tracing as a tool to fight gun crimes.
The story follows a gun found at a crime scene with its serial number ground off. It was eventually traced to a purchase made in Keene, New Hampshire. The buyer was a ‘straw’ purchaser involved in the smuggling scheme. Shell casings found at multiple crime scenes in Canada were also matched to the gun. One of the defendants charged in the scheme even used jet skis to smuggle guns from New York into Canada.
As many as half the crime guns recovered in Canada were smuggled from the U.S., according to statistics from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Gun tracing has become particularly helpful as authorities continue to recover illegal firearms. Canadian authorities identify between 17,000 and 20,000 illegal firearms per year. In major Canadian cities, anywhere from 78% to 90% of crime guns recovered came from or were smuggled in from the U.S., the ATF says.
Colorado Ceasefire supported HB1265 this year, which became law and now requires all Colorado law enforcement agencies to participate in ATF’s Etrace program.