WHEREAS, gun-related violent crime is one of this nation’s primary concerns, and the deaths of our citizens, especially our children, harms families, communities, society, and erodes the value and quality of life and depletes our precious human and economic resources; and

WHEREAS, raising an obliterated serial number from a crime gun is often possible and yields a wealth of information, because the ATF National Tracing Center indicates that the majority of firearms recovered with an obliterated serial number were illegally trafficked after being purchased in a multiple sale of firearms or after being stolen; and

WHEREAS, there is current technology in the firearms manufacturing industry which replaces the current stamping of individual serial numbers on the frames of firearms with a laser etching process, and that with laser etching shallow serial numbers can be obliterated much easier, which reduces the probability of law enforcement investigators successfully raising the obliterated serial numbers; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), duly assembled at its 105th annual conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, encourages all members to advocate that firearms manufacturers and importers continue the practice of stamping the serial numbers into the metal frames of firearms and discontinue laser etching; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that firearms manufacturers and importers work with law enforcement agencies to stamp serial numbers in hidden places just like the automobile industry has done to thwart the efforts of criminals who may attempt to obliterate them, and that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, domestic and major foreign firearms manufacturers and importers, and the governors and state legislative bodies.