Inspections of Firearms Dealers by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Report Number I-2004-005
July 2004

EXECUTIVE DIGEST

BACKGROUND

PURPOSE, SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY

RESULTS OF THE REVIEW

The ATF Does Not Conduct In-Person Application Inspections on All New FFLs

The ATF Does Not Regularly Conduct Compliance Inspections on Active FFLs, Including Large-Scale Retailers

ATF Does Not Identify and Inspect All FFLs That Exhibited Indicators of Potential Violations or Gun Trafficking

Gun Tracing Has Significant Shortcomings That Limit Its Use for Identifying FFLs That Should Be Inspected

ATF's Field Divisions Implement FFL Inspections Inconsistently

Suspected Criminal Violations Are Not Always Referred for Investigation

ATF Acts Infrequently to Revoke Federal Firearms Licenses and the Process is Not Timely

New ATF Guidelines Begins to Address Inconsistent and Untimely Adverse Actions

By Streamlining and Standardizing Inspections, the ATF Could Dramatically Improve the FFL Inspection Program

ATF Does Not Consistently Report Inspection Performance

New Restriction on Retention of Gun Purchaser Data Will Hinder the ATF's Ability to Detect Fraudulent Background Checks

CONCLUSIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS

APPENDIX I ATF Form 4473 [Not available electronically]

APPENDIX II Area Supervisor Survey

APPENDIX III ATF Comments on the Draft Report

APPENDIX IV OIG Analysis of the ATF's Comments