WASHINGTON – The Organization of American States (OAS) has been actively promoting an initiative to help strengthen national capacities of OAS member states to combat illicit firearms trafficking in the region.

The OAS, through the “Promoting Firearms Marking in Latin America and the Caribbean” program, is providing firearms marking equipment to 30 countries in the region as well as the training necessary for its proper use. The project relies on the financial support of the Government of the United States.

The marking of firearms is a process that permanently marks the weapon with unique and identifiable information such as serial number, name of the manufacturer or importer, model, and caliber or gauge. The markings assist law enforcement agencies in tracing the weapons when they are recovered at crime scenes.

Although most firearms are marked at the time of manufacture, adding additional markings to identify the country of import, where the weapon was seized, or where it was retained for official use facilitates and expedites tracing of the weapon. This in turn can help to identify at what point a weapon entered the illicit arms market and/or help to identify the perpetrator of a crime. Marking is therefore a very effective tool for combating the trafficking of firearms in the Hemisphere.

This firearms marking program aspires to strengthen national capacity of participating governments by providing one dot-peen type marking machine and related training, as well as one laptop computer and software to facilitate record-keeping. As currently configured, the marking machines automatically generate a computer record of all the necessary information to trace each weapon.

A total of 28 OAS member states have expressed their interest in participating in this program (five OAS states – Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico and the United States – already have this capability making the program a near universal accomplishment for the hemisphere), and 21 countries have signed the Cooperation Agreement and received the equipment and training: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago.

Three additional countries (the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Peru) have signed an agreement and will receive the equipment and training shortly.

It is expected that a minimum of 80,000 firearms throughout the Hemisphere will be marked in 2012 as a result of this project.