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ARQUEBUS

Established by the founder and first director of the UK’s National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS), chaired (non-executive) by the first Director General of the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).

Specialises in the minimisation and prevention of the misuse of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW). Provides consulting, training and research, as well as forensic services and technology development.

Supported UNDP SEESAC in the scoping and establishment of the Western Balkan FFPs.

EU-funded research projects, including Project EFFECT; SAFTE; TARGET; FOCAL-SF; REGISYNC, FOCAL-SF-II and VISTA.

Supports states across Africa, the Caribbean and Central America in the lifecycle management of state and civilian-held SALW via its proprietary SALW registration and licensing system: FireCycle.

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LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

Recording the lifecycle of SALW through every transactional step from their declaration (e.g., manufacture, import, seizure) through service, to eventual destruction or export.

Deters the diversion of SALW.

Enables the tracing of lost/ stolen and found/ seized SALW (detection).

Supports the development of tactical and strategic weapons intelligence to build upstream preventative activity.

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COMMON RECORDKEEPING CHALLENGES

Framework

What to control? ‘Firearms’, essential components, controlled accessories and ammunition?
Decentralised systems can result in fragmentation of records.
Conflation of ‘licensing’ with ‘registration’ (in civilian lifecycle management).
No standardisation of data between jurisdictions (e.g., synonymous calibres).

Data

Partial records of the lifecycle.
Low quality data (accuracy, precision and completeness)
Back-capture and data migration.

Personnel & Resources

Insufficient resourcing and/or training.
Insufficient funding

Technology

Paper-based systems.
Legacy technology
Unsustainable solutions
Ineffective solution design.

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REGISYNC: NATIONAL ARMS REGISTRIES

Research study of the legal arms registers of 35 jurisdictions.

Established the state of play regarding civilian firearms registries in Europe, provided analysis on good practices and policy recommendations for international information exchange

Many registries do not capture the full lifecycle of legal ownership or efficiently facilitate the domestic tracing of firearms.

Varying approaches to framework, data, personnel, and levels of technological sophistication.

Examples of effective and innovative practices.

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VISTA: NATIONAL SEIZURE DATABASES

Capability building and provide targeted support for EUMS, WB and EE regarding seizures data collection, analysis and exchange of information practices.

Lack of a standardised and harmonised firearm seizure data both in Europe, and globally.

Supporting the development and implementation of an EU Common Mimum Dataset on firearms seizure data.

Understanding the state of play on firearms seizure data, developing policy recommendations and guidance on enhancing the intelligence picture to support Priority 2 of the EU Action Plan.

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OPPORTUNITY: THE BASICS MATTER

Opportunities to integrate innovative marking technologies such as chemical taggants, ammunition marking, RFID and GPS.

Opportunity to integrate active or passive test-firing of state and/or firearms if intelligence suggests misuse or diversion.

However, basics matter.

Appropriate digitalisation of lifecycle management.
Full lifecycle management.
Developing a single ‘source of truth’ for weapons within the jurisdiction. This is still not occuring in many jurisdictions world-wide.
Safeguards, acountability and oversight registry features (e.g., Prinsloo case).

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OPPORTUNITY: NFFPS AND LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

Upstream Activity

Tracing

SALW Instrument

Reporting

Strategic Intelligence

ABIS

Inside the Gun

Bullet

Cartridge

Case

Firearm

Outside the Gun

Forensics

DNA
Serial Number Recovery
Trace evidence
Fingerprints

Tactical Intelligence

Other Information Sources

National Firearms Focal Point (FFP)

Collection

Development

Dissemination

Ballistics

Linked Crimes
Inferred Firearms
Trend Analysis
Quarterly Reports

ILEC

Firearms Licensing / Registration
Customs / Border Agency
Police Command & Control
Crime Recording
Police Intelligence
OSINT & SOCMINT
Third Party

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Once these basics are in place, there is opportunity for the lifecycle management system to support fast-time intelligence.

Fast-time intelligence focuses on systematic gathering and evaluation of data and information, through a defined analysis process, turning it into strategic and operational analysis products, which serve as basis for improved, informed and evidence-based decision-making.

The national firearms focal point acts as a fast-time intelligence centre for weapons, which integrates information from inside and outside the gun on a multi-agency basis to develop tactical and strategic intelligence.

NFFPs have seen to be extremely effective. For example, firearms crime in the UK dropped by over 50% during NABIS’ first 6 years of service, and the value of NFFPs were recently affirmed at the international level in the UN Programme of Action’s 4^th RevCon outcome document.

Crucially, lifecycle management registries are a core data source for NFFPs, being referenced in both the EFE’s Best Practice Guidelines on NFFPs (2018), UNDP SEESAC’s Guidelines on NFFPs and the European Council Conclusions 10168/21. Lifecycle management systems are therefore not just crucial for WAM, but for proactive, fast-time intelligence that builds upstream activity.

To maximise the utility of the NFFPs, some lifecycle management systems in Europe offer direct integration of the registry to the NFFP’s link analysis software via API, aiding investigation, tracing and analysis. But crucially, it's important for such systems to first fulfil the basics of lifecycle management for NFFPs to be effective and efficient.

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