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Gun Dealer Records Maintenance

Audience
Strategy
State laws may require licensed dealers to keep records for a specified time period, but federal law prohibits the federal government from retaining firearm sales records in a central repository, making gun tracing a slow and antiquated process. Records are most useful to law enforcement when they are accessible in one location (i.e., a central database). States that maintain accurate records of gun purchases can facilitate the identification of illegal gun sellers and purchases, and therefore improve the investigation of gun crime.
Specific programs and implementation sites:
Helpful resources and citations:
Primary implementing agency:
  • Licensed gun dealers
Potential partnering agencies:
  • Law enforcement

Links to evaluation evidence:

  • None/inconclusive
PSN Pillars

Focused and Strategic Enforcement

Prevention and Intervention

Accountability

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Comprehensive anti-gang initiatives combine enforcement, prevention, and reentry efforts to target gang-related gun violence in high-crime neighborhoods. Sites that implement this approach to tailor the program to their communities’ strengths and areas of need. Enforcement efforts include increased federal, state, and local prosecution; prosecution screening; and hot spots policing. Prevention and intervention efforts include skill building, education, outreach, school-based prevention, and substance use treatment. Reentry efforts include outreach and community-based services for individuals reentering the community following incarceration.

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Consent to Search and Seize Program

Consent to Search and Seize Program

Destruction of Forfeited Firearms

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Detective Function Assessment – PSN Resource

Detective Function Assessment – PSN Resource

Hot Spots Policing and Directed Patrols

Hot Spots Policing and Directed Patrols

Gun Buy-Back or Turn-In Programs

Gun Buy-Back or Turn-In Programs

Gun Courts

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Gun Licensing

Gun Licensing

Gun Prosecution Case Screening 

Gun Prosecution Case Screening 

Gun Tracing

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Gun Violence Prevention Hotlines

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Gunshot Detection Technology

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Homicide and Non-fatal Shooting Databases

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Homicide Review Commissions

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Hospital-Policing Partnerships

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Identifying and Responding to Chronic Offenders

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Lost/Stolen Gun Reporting

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Mentoring

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National Instant Criminal Background Check System Denials Investigations

National Instant Criminal Background Check System Denials Investigations

Neighborhood Engagement Units

Neighborhood Engagement Units

Nonfatal Shooting Assessment – PSN Resource

Nonfatal Shooting Assessment – PSN Resource

Parent/Guardian Counseling

Parent/Guardian Counseling

Parent/Guardian Counseling

Parent/Guardian Counseling

Police-Community Liaison

Police-Community Liaison

Public Awareness Campaigns

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Real-Time Crime Center

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Regulating Bulk Firearm Purchases 

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Promote Safe Storage of Firearms

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Problem-Oriented Policing

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Search and Seize Policy – Domestic Violence

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Street Outreach Workers

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Sustained Investigation of Gun-Involved Cases

Sustained Investigation of Gun-Involved Cases

Universal Background Checks

Universal Background Checks

Youth Counseling

Youth Counseling

School-Based Youth Development Programs

School-Based Youth Development Programs

Cure Violence

Cure Violence

Extreme Risk Protection Orders

Extreme Risk Protection Orders

Lethality Assessment Instruments

Lethality Assessment Instruments

Credible Messenger Program

Credible Messenger Program

Comprehensive Youth Violence Prevention Programs

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Top Offender List Training – PSN Resource

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Focused Deterrence

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Improve Homicide Investigations

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Respond to Retaliatory Violent Disputes

Respond to Retaliatory Violent Disputes

BJA

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