Since 1992 (and as recently as 2009), the Congressional Research Service has repeatedly stated that the ATF tracing system is an operational system designed to help law enforcement agencies identify the ownership path of individual firearms and was not designed to collect statistics.
1992年以降（そして2009年）、米国議会調査部 (en)は、ATFの追跡システムはシステム操作上、法的な執行機関が個々の銃の所有履歴を確認することを助け、その統計を集めるようにはなっていなかったと述べた。