Issued Firearms Serial Number Tracking

One problem the AFP is facing right now, is the issue of SOME (not all, but SOME) AFP personnel selling issued firearms for profit. There has to be a way to contain the problem as much as possible, & one possible solution revolves around the traceability of firearms using Serial Number.

All firearms produced by the manufacturer are stamped w/ its own, individual Serial Number (S/N). This is one way the manufacturer keeps track of its firearms. These records could be used innovatively to keep minimize military firearms trafficking.

A firearm's S/N could, of course, be tampered with, & the skill of some gunsmiths are such that they can reportedly change a S/N without leaving a visible trace that it has, indeed, been tampered with.

However, a TAMPERED S/N will only be one of 2 things:
- It may either be a completely fictitious S/N that will not be on the records of the manufacturer's S/N database;
- Or, it may be a duplicate of an existing S/N in the manufacturer's database.

A tampered S/N could be traced efficiently if the Manufacturer, & the AFP could come up w/ a database showing the history of each S/N. For example, if an M-16's S/N is inputted into the database, then we can see when, where & who the gun was issued to.

If a S/N for a particular model & manufacturer doesn't show up in the database, then it can be automatically considered as tampered with.

Perhaps a law could be passed to allow the AFP to outright confiscate & destroy tampered firearms, & possibly even issue fines to the person found to be in possession of tampered firearms. The aim of this, is to discourage the traffic & ownership of tampered firearms by making it difficult for people found to be in possession of it. We may not be able to catch the scalawags who sell their issued weapons, but by making it difficult for them to profit from it, then it will help minimize the problem.