[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 1, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S205]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Whitehouse, and 
        Mrs. Gillibrand):
  S. 203. A bill to amend section 923 of title 18, United States Code, 
to require an electronic, searchable database of the importation, 
production, shipment, receipt, sale, or other disposition of firearms; 
to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, today I rise to introduce the Crime 
Gun Tracing Modernization Act.
  This bill would bring ATF into the 21st century by allowing the 
Agency to electronically search for the records of guns used in crimes 
across the country. It is hard to believe that ATF still must store 
paper records and search them by hand in order to identify the guns 
used for criminal activity. These archaic rules prevent the people 
responsible for enforcing our laws from doing their jobs effectively.
  The National Tracing Center at ATF is responsible for quickly placing 
crime gun ownership information into the hands of law enforcement 
officials so they can solve crimes and save lives. In 2021, National 
Tracing Center receive over 540,000 trace requests.
  Unfortunately, the timely completion of these trace requests has been 
made nearly impossible because ATF cannot search these records 
electronically.
  To make matters worse, these millions of records are stored in 
thousands of boxes that are overflowing the hallways of the National 
Tracing Center in Martinsburg, WV. The records that agents must search 
through are so massive, ATF has been told that if it places more boxes 
inside the facility, the floor may collapse.
  Every moment after a crime is committed matters dearly to our law 
enforcement agencies. Prohibiting the efficient search of these records 
puts our communities at risk.
  I thank my former colleague Senator Leahy for championing this bill 
last Congress. I am committed to continuing the fight for this 
important fix.
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