In 2022, 623,000.
In 2022, 623,000.
How many of those resulted in a crime being solved?
That is very misleading. That is not crimes solved by tracing. That is “we recovered this stolen pistol, and got it back to it’s rightful owner”.
Or “this guy committed suicide, trace his gun so we can know what store he bought it at 5 years ago”.
Or “this guy murdered someone and we found a gun in his sock drawer. Trace it... and find out he bought it legally at the Bass Pro, OR, he stole it”.
They “trace” a lot of guns, but it’s just an administrative game and does not solve crimes. It is nearly unheard of to solve a crime with a trace. It’s a stupid east coast idea from 1950s movies and TV shows.
Take the Sandy Hook shooter. They traced his guns. His mom bought and owned them legally. He gets up at midnight, kills her and takes her guns. So what exactly did that vaunted “trace” solve?