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At a border security conference in August 2008, Michael Sullivan, acting director of
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stated that, "Nearly all illegal
firearms (90% to 95%) seized in Mexico come from the United States"[1]. When
firearms are recovered at a crime scene, the firearms can be traced providing specific
details on illegal firearm dealers or straw purchasers within the United States. Criminals
or narco terrorist groups target US dealers to source firearms for drug cartels in Mexico
and South America. Joint law enforcement programs between the US and Mexico law
enforcement have been effective, however, in most cases the firearms that are seized are
only a small fraction of the firearms trafficked across the United States border. A
technology called Microstamping, when applied to newly manufactured firearms will
provide further opportunities for tracing illegal firearms for law enforcement in the
United States and across the globe. Microstamping is a patented technology and trace
solution where intentional tooling marks are formed or micromachined onto firearms
interior surfaces that come into contact or impact the surfaces of cartridge casings. The
intentional tooling marks can take the form of alphanumeric codes or encoded geometric
codes, such as a barcode. As the firearm is discharged the intentional tooling marks
transfer a code to the cartridge casing before it is ejected out of the firearm. When
recovered at the scene of an incident, the Microstamped cartridge can indentify a specific
firearm, without the need to recover that firearm. Microstamping provides critical
intelligence for use in border security operations and cross border violent drug related
crime investigations. This paper will explain the key attributes of microstamping
technology; including its potential benefits in border security operations and how data
gathered from the technique can be used in geospatial information systems to identify
illicit firearm sources, trafficking routes, as well as spatial and temporal mapping of
narco-terrorist movements on either side of the border.
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