Will implementation of the ACS technology violate the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution or be considered a “backdoor” gun registration scheme?
No. State and federal legislative proposals to implement ACS would be based upon the existing firearm dealer licensing and gun tracing statutes enacted by Congress in 1968. The United States Supreme Court has, on numerous occasions, affirmed the constitutionality of the licensing and tracing provisions of the current federal law. Moreover, even the National Rifle Association supports the privacy protections contained in federal gun tracing regulations. Legislation could be carefully drafted to insure that any information acquired under an ACS program could not be used to single out gun owners or function as a gun registration scheme. When a bullet or cartridge case is recovered at a crime scene, only duly authorized law enforcement agencies would have access to ACS bullet coding information. The ACS “trace” would be completed using the same proven methods used by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies today in conducting crime gun traces. Only minimal personal identifying in
