To trace all those guns, all those names, the street names, the addresses. Your brain can't process all that. Computer analysis has its limits. At best, it only can expose a portion of illegal trafficking operations. For example, it is difficult to track the purchase of a weapon at a gun show or through other second-hand sales.
Databases can only generate leads.
A crucial ingredient in the success of the computerized approach is a relatively recent press by federal authorities to encourage more aggressive use of gun tracing when local police seize a weapon. Until recently, it was the exception rather than the rule for police to order gun traces when they recovered a weapon. Frequently, a trace is not necessary for the immediate task at hand-to find and convict the person who committed the crime under investigation. A federal initiative started in 1996 committed local police in 17 major urban centers to trace every gun they seized. Because of the sensitivities of politically powerful gun rights organizations, a web of federal laws and regulations prohibit centralized recordkeeping on ordinary gun purchases.