Summary

In response to complaints about the government's efforts to trace firearms used in crimes, GAO surveyed federally licensed gun dealers and pawnbrokers whose records on firearms sales had been inspected by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). This briefing report discusses: (1) whether licensees had encountered problems with ATF's compliance inspections; (2) whether licensees had complained to ATF about their problems; (3) whether those licensees who complained believed that ATF had fairly addressed their concerns; and (4) how well licensees believed that ATF was carrying out its regulatory responsibilities.

GAO found that: (1) in 1992, the number of federal firearms licensees totalled over 281,000, and the number of fiscal year 1991 compliance inspections totalled 8,258; (2) ATF lacks a system for recording licensee inspection complaints and area offices lack guidelines for responding to complaints; (3) because of the low number of complaints, ATF officials can handle inspection complaints on a case-by-case basis; (4) of the 283 surveyed ATF-inspected licensees, 26 reported having inspection problems; (5) ATF inspectors resolved 15 of the 26 inspection problems and, out of the remaining 11 problems, considered that it handled 10 very fairly; and (6) 76 percent of licensees believe that ATF carries out its regulatory responsibilities very well, 17 percent believe that ATF is adequate, and 7 percent believe that ATF performance is marginal or inadequate.