Does the ATF crime gun trace data show the assault weapon ban to be effective?

Does the ATF crime gun trace data show the assault weapon ban to be effective?

Paul Helmke (President, The Brady Campaign) gives expert video advice on: How dangerous are assault weapons?; What is a semi-automatic assault weapon?; What's the difference between an assault weapon and a semi-automatic firearm? and more...

ATF does not release their crime trace data so it's hard to tell what it shows. One of the reasons why it's important that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms release information on what types of guns are being used in crime and where they're coming from is so policy makers can decide what needs to be done next. Trace data is important to law enforcement in terms of seeing trafficking patterns and developing proactive strategies. It's also important to policy makers at the local level, at the state level, and at the federal level to decide if a certain type of gun, characteristic, dealer or manufacturer are the particular source of the problem. But we haven't had that data since 2003 so it's too hard to tell what is really happening.