Feds: Police often skip 'trace data' in gun crimes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Only about a third of the nation's estimated 17,000 local law enforcement agencies regularly request federal assistance for "trace information" identifying the source of firearms used in crimes.

"There may be law enforcement agencies out there not asking for it because they don't think they have access to it," said the director of the ATF.

Federal authorities say they tend to receive repeated requests for help every year mostly from the same 6,000 LE agencies — and rarely hear from the other 11,000