Are gun trafficking cases like drug cases?
The toughest investigations to conduct at the local and federal level are firearms trafficking cases. To begin with, there are Second Amendment rights, and as a federal law enforcement agency, we’ll zealously guard those rights. Drug investigations, in many ways, are a lot easier because in most instances, from beginning to end, the drugs are illegal. Guns, the vast majority of them, enter commerce legally, are used lawfully, and possessed legally. It’s like that proverbial needle in the haystack trying to identify those few folks who put them into commerce illegally—the person who shows up to buy a gun for their brother or boyfriend who is a felon. Ness famously brought in accountants to get Al Capone. What is ATF using today? Forensics are the main element—blood or ballistics evidence, where we have the ability to link crime scenes to one another, even over the course of years. New investigations get solved faster, and old ones can be closed, too. Despite the advancements, I think th
