The final volume of a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) study on firearms trafficking, released on Jan. 8, calls for expansion of the background check and gun tracing programs as well as investigations along the U.S. southern border.
“Expanded use of ATF’s crime gun tracing and National Integrated Ballistic Information Network has provided more investigative leads than ever on violent gun crimes, enhanced strategic intelligence on violent gangs, and improved the apprehension and prosecution of violent criminals.”
Researchers reported a 1,600 percent increase in the number of privately made firearms recovered from crime scenes and a 784 percent increase in the number of seized machine gun conversion devices between 2019 and 2023.
The report shows a 63 percent increase between 2017 and 2023 in the number of crime guns in Mexico that came from the United States.
The majority of those guns came from Texas, Arizona, and California, the report states.
These include guns used by Mexican Cartels in drug and human trafficking operations. In 2023, the number of southbound firearms seized at the border increased by 86 percent from the previous year.
“As this report makes clear, increased resources could help ATF expand its operational efforts along the border,” DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs said in the statement.
The report also calls for expanded background checks as outlined in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022.
Last September, the DOJ announced policies to allow states to share mental health and criminal background records through the National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS).
The report states that expanded background checks would save lives and prevent criminals from obtaining guns.
The report also calls for more action on so-called “ghost guns.” Privately made firearms (PMFs) have been a focus of the ATF because they do not have serial numbers and are difficult to trace.
The report states that between 2017 and 2023, 92,702 suspected PMFs were reported. During that time, the number of PMFs found at crime scenes increased from 1,629 to 27,490.
Almost 1,700 were connected to homicides and 4,000 were linked to other violent crimes, according to the report.
The rise of 3D printing technology has also led to an increase in the production of machinegun conversion devices (MCDs) and privately made firearms, it states.
MCDs convert a legal semi-automatic firearm that fires one shot per trigger pull into an illegal machine gun that fires multiple rounds as long as the trigger is held.
According to the report, between 2019 and 2023, there was a 784 percent increase in the number of these devices seized by the ATF.
Outgoing ATF Director Steven Dettelbach said the report confirms the ATF’s value. Dettelbach has resigned from the ATF effective Jan. 18, 2025.
“At ATF, we know that we cannot successfully address the threat of gun violence in this nation without the best and most current information about the problem,” Dettelbach said in a statement.
ATF critics say the report’s recommendations would do more to infringe on Americans’ Second Amendment rights than to deal with crime.
“The tracking of privately made firearms is a fool’s errand for a number of reasons,” Luis Valdes, Florida State Director for Gun Owners of America, wrote in an email to The Epoch Times. “As a former [law enforcement officer] myself, I can tell you the greatest threats aren’t home-built firearms or surplus police guns. It is the revolving door policy our criminal justice system has that lets hardened criminals out in the streets with slaps on the wrist.”
Burlison described the agency as “emblematic of the deep-state bureaucracy that believes it can infringe on constitutional liberties without consequence.”
