For every gun that comes to Parro's Gun Shop, workers take a copy of the seller’s ID, double check their address and take down the gun's serial number.“Once we own the firearm, it goes into our federal log books. So it has make, model, serial number, description and positive identification of who we purchased it from,” owner Henry Parro said.Watch this storyBut what if that gun was stolen or used in a crime?While it doesn't happen often, in his more than 30 years in business, Parro knows the warning signs.“They won't know what caliber it is, they don't know the brand, they don't know where they got it,” Parro said.Over at BJ's gun shop in Williston, employees would call state police if they sensed something fishy. Dispatch would contact an officer, who would run the gun's serial number to see if it had been reported stolen to the federal database. But some Vermont gun dealers want to be able to do that themselves. They already run federal background checks on buyers.“A database that tracks stolen firearms, seems like that wouldn’t be a major overreach by us to try to gain access to,” BJ’s owner Jay O’Brien said.Parro agreed.“If there was a way to validate serial numbers in a national computer system, I don't believe there would be any gun dealer that would not use it,” he said.However, a spokesperson for ATF said that probably won’t happen any time soon.“The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is a law enforcement-only database, which would be used to query a firearm and determine it's stolen,” said Special Agent Christopher Arone. "I don’t foresee any Federal Firearm Licensees (FFL’s) / gun stores having access to this, as it's specifically for law enforcement."But for Parro, the reasoning is simple.“Gun dealers do not want to buy stolen goods,” Parro said.

For every gun that comes to Parro's Gun Shop, workers take a copy of the seller’s ID, double check their address and take down the gun's serial number.

“Once we own the firearm, it goes into our federal log books. So it has make, model, serial number, description and positive identification of who we purchased it from,” owner Henry Parro said.


Watch this story

But what if that gun was stolen or used in a crime?

While it doesn't happen often, in his more than 30 years in business, Parro knows the warning signs.

“They won't know what caliber it is, they don't know the brand, they don't know where they got it,” Parro said.

Over at BJ's gun shop in Williston, employees would call state police if they sensed something fishy. Dispatch would contact an officer, who would run the gun's serial number to see if it had been reported stolen to the federal database. But some Vermont gun dealers want to be able to do that themselves. They already run federal background checks on buyers.

“A database that tracks stolen firearms, seems like that wouldn’t be a major overreach by us to try to gain access to,” BJ’s owner Jay O’Brien said.

Parro agreed.

“If there was a way to validate serial numbers in a national computer system, I don't believe there would be any gun dealer that would not use it,” he said.

However, a spokesperson for ATF said that probably won’t happen any time soon.

“The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is a law enforcement-only database, which would be used to query a firearm and determine it's stolen,” said Special Agent Christopher Arone. "I don’t foresee any Federal Firearm Licensees (FFL’s) / gun stores having access to this, as it's specifically for law enforcement."

But for Parro, the reasoning is simple.

“Gun dealers do not want to buy stolen goods,” Parro said.