Article updated: 1/29/2013 9:30 AM

After gun crime, weapon history takes time to find

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The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) processes firearm transaction documents from firearms dealers no longer in business, no matter the condition of the documents, such as this fire and water damaged document, at their National Trace Center in Martinsburg, W.Va.

Associated Press

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tracer Debbie Marshall reaches for a microfilm roll of firearm transaction documents from dealers no longer in business as she researches a firearm used in a crime at the National Trace Center in Martinsburg, W.Va.

Associated Press

Traci Slonacker photographs firearm transaction documents from dealers no longer in business at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) National Trace Center in Martinsburg, W.Va.

Associated Press

About this Article

In the fictional world of television police dramas, a few quick clicks on a computer lead investigators to the owner of a gun recovered at a bloody crime scene. Before the first commercial, the TV detectives are on the trail of the suspect. Reality is a world away. There is no national database of guns. Not of who owns them, how many are sold annually or even how many exist.