guns, an american tradition. but also an american problem. >> how easy in this country is it for a criminal to get a gun? >> it's like a kid buying beer. >> gangs terrorizing neighborhoods in broad daylight. >> when you think you've seen it all, you haven't. >> where were agents from the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms. >> as soon as we get in that first room, everybody start yelling police. >> as they crack down on gun crime in a raid at dawn. >> this gang involves violent

gang members. >> we test the high-powered weapons used by criminals on the street. and go behind the scenes at the atf's forensic lab. >> the same gun fired both of these bullets? >> absolutely. >> but how do guns get in the wrong hands in the first place? an undercover investigation shows how easy it is. >> we need her to do the paperwork here. >> okay. >> and he doesn't ask any questions. >> that's illegal. >> and -- the incredible story of a man who runs from the law -- >> go, go, go! >> and by himself holds off more than 120 law men for days with his one-man arson.

firearms have always been a part of our culture in this country, dating back to the days of the revolutionary war and the wild west. but crime is also a part of our history. every 18 minutes someone in america dies from gun violence. one federal agency is battling to end that trend, using new methods to solve gun crime and prevent tragedy. it's the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms, also known as the atf. >> 5:00 a.m., a parking lot seven miles from downtown chicago. agents of the atf's special response team are gearing up for a dawn bust. >> all the way south. >> it's the culmination of a year-long investigation called operation "dead eye." chicago fbi agent tom ahern. >> this case involves violent gang members in the city of chicago. they're heavily armed. most of the suspects in this investigation have been to the

penitentiary before, and they don't want to go back again. >> the 28 suspects are believed to be members of the notorious gangster disciples. controlling crack sales on the streets. gangs are one of the biggest priorities and drugs almost always mean guns. how dangerous is an element like this? >> if they're desperate, they'll do anything to protect their business. they're making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year or more. they're going to protect that at all costs. >> the agents have come from all over the midwest. ahern's team is more than just half a dozen that will conduct raids across chicago today. >> we're coming up on 5:00 a.m. is this bus going down this early for a reason? >> one of the key elements is to catch our defendants and the offenders off guard. and usually we like to do that while they're still sleeping and, really, it protects them and it protects us. >> an armored vehicle arrives. the preparation shifts to high gear.

guns, ammo clips, rifle gear, stun guns. then the agents dawn their bulletproof armor. the sun rises. we obscured his face at the atfs request. >> we're going to be rolling southbound on the target street. it's going to be last house on the right at the end of the block. basically we're going to blow the door. as soon as we get in that first room, everybody starts yelling "police, police, police." >> no detail is too small. >> the door is hinged left. there's a small concrete landing six to eight feet wide. there's about four or five steps going up. there's not going to be a lot of room once you're up on the landing. >> following the briefing, the last of the gear is loaded. a battering gear, more guns, a pick and a helmet. then it's time to move. >> everybody is moving out. >> en route to location. copy. >> we'll soon join them to see

if their mission is a success. the atf conducts hundreds of operations across the country every year to control gun trafficking and violence. everything from ruthless drug gangs to lone gunmen. does it surprise you the audacity of some of these criminals? >> when you think you've seen it all you haven't. i don't think anything surprises us any more. the level of violence we've seen is alarming. >> america is awash in guns. nearly 4 million are manufactured every year. almost half of all americans are registered gun owners. the vast majority of weapons are never used in a crime. they're collected, used for sport, or used for protection. when guns are in the news, the story is usually a sickening familiar one. >> six teenagers were shot. >> five people shot. one fatally.

>> routine arrest turned to a very public shootout. >> it's part of our perception there's a huge gun crime problem due to mass media, television, internet, print, that sort of thing? or is the perception the reality? >> i would say the perception is the reality. >> david kennedy has studied gun crime extensively and worked with the atf. >> this stuff is happening. and it's awful. and it's unpredictable. and there's essentially no way to protect against it. when you look at violent crime. there's this overwhelming pattern. what drives ordinary street crime is very seasoned offenders. they are not ordinary people. >> so busts like operation dead eye are getting guns off the streets. as the atf special team rolls out. todd lets us ride along.

>> this is a typical atf operation. it's taken about a month and a lot of hours to get to this point. >> because this bust has multiple locations, all of the raids will happen simultaneously. >> there's a chopper overhead. what's that for? >> there's multiple addresses we're hitting. that's another team. in the event there were anything to occur, they can respond to it very quickly. >> is this unusual for this size operation to be executed in this way? >> it's really not. when you're facing a gang, you have to do it all. once you do one, the others won't realize what's going on. >> they would start making calls to everyone else and start warning people. at the bus location agents surround the house, then the moment of truth. the seven-man team moves in slowly and quietly. once at the front door, they break it, throw in two stun grenades.

and move into the home with no resistance. within 15 minutes, the suspects are quietly rounded up. agent riechert is pleased. >> doesn't look like anybody is resisting or anything. >> nope. >> this went off pretty smoothly? >> any time a warrant is executed and no shots were fired, that's a success. >> we get a debrief from agent ahe ahern. does this present challenges? >> it did in that there were several people sleeping in the house at the time. the house was really cluttered. the search team will have their hands full. once the suspects are removed. the house for evidence. what do you think they will find in there? >> the probable cause would indicate narcotics they'll be searching for. >> across the city, authorities seize two guns, $40,000 in cash and 324 grams of crack/cocaine. 28 people are rounded up and charged with drug conspiracy.

"operation dead eye" goes off without a hitch. and this quiet neighborhood on the south side of chicago can breathe a little easier. >> what amazes me is this a pretty quiet residential area. manicured lawns. people actually take care and pride in their houses and they have this right next door. >> they're not bad neighborhoods. there's certain bad people that live in the neighborhoods. we try and weed those people out. >> how guns get into criminal hands. >> it's like a kid buying beer. >> and we test the weapons out there on the streets. [ female announcer ] kids who don't eat breakfast

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an undercover agent in massachusetts in his car, buying a gun from a street dealer. >> how you doing?

>> you're watching an atf sting operation in progress. the action caught on a camera mounted in the dashboard. here cash is exchanged, and in minutes the deal is done. this is the end of the chain for illegal gun trafficking. but finding out how guns get into criminal hands in if first place is the new frontier for solving gun crime. >> the enormous light bulb that's gone off in the last 10 or 15 years is that this identifiable movement of guns from the legitimate market is real. it's hugely problematic. it's already illegal. and it's something we can do something about. >> you talk about the flow of guns from the legal side to the illegal side. how easy in the country is it for a criminal to get a gun? >> it's frighteningly easy. it's like a kid buying beer. you find somebody who's not a felon.

you have them go to a gun store. they buy a gun. you hand it off like a six-pack, and you're done. >> it's called a straw buy and it's one of the most common way guns are trafficked. in fact, most crime guns aren't smuggled or stolen or purchased at gun shows, but bought at federally-licensed stored. new york city did its own investigation of straw buyers at 40 dealers in five different states. john feinblack is the coordinator for new york. >> there are a small number of dealers not playing by the rules. those are the dealers who are often having their guns repeatedly turn up at crime scenes and turning up in relatively short periods after they've been sold. >> how did you folks carry out this investigation? >> what we did was we compiled a list of dealers that we thought might be engaging in illegal

sales practices, and then we went just as you would undercover into those stores. >> feinblack showed us the difference between a dealer who played by the rules and one who didn't. first, a sale done the right way. >> i want to look at this 9mm. >> this is the voice of an investigator talking to the man. he walked in with a woman, but she's not asking any questions. here at the moment where the paperwork has to be filled out. low and behold, the woman comes in and says i'll fill out the paperwork. >> you have to do it. it's the law. >> even it's for her? >> you can't buy a gun? >> yeah, i can buy a gun. >> it's for me. >> this is the perfect example

of what a straw sale is. this dealer caught it immediately. and threw us out. >> but in another store, a clear violation. >> the man comes in, asks for the gun, then when it comes time to purchasing, the woman comes forward. >> going to get her to do the paperwork here. >> okay. answer these questions here and sign there. >> okay. >> and he doesn't ask any questions. >> doesn't ask her any questions. >> all right. thank you, sir. >> one dealer throws us out. one dealer proceeds with the sale. that's illegal. >> the city sued 27 of the shops. most settled out of court. less than 1% of dealers supply half of crime guns. cut them off, and you cut off the supply. >> this is the way you find gun traffickers. find one gun shop that has

supplied hundreds of crime guns to cities up and down the eastern seaboard. that's the place where you should find out what's going on. >> eliot's gun shop in jefferson, louisiana, was one of those places. atf agents raided the store and shut it down. 2,300 weapons were later implicated in crimes, including an astonishing 125 homicides. at the time, it was one of the the top suppliers of crime guns in the country. >> if one store puts out hundreds of firearms to the criminal element and it goes to certain gangs or gang members, and they're using crimes all across the country, it's important for us to be on top of those very few gun stores who may be doing so illegally. >> to track guns after they've been used in a crime, the atf uses several methods. there is no national gun registry, so the national tracing center helps track firearms through licenses, sales, and other records. but sometimes the detective work is more hands on.

that's where walter comes in. >> similar to the bush master, which was used by the washington area snipers. >> he is one of the agency's top ballistic experts. he testified at the d.c. sniper trial. >> we couldn't do our job without the agents. the agents couldn't go on with their investigation without our laboratory reports. >> walter helps track bullets from atf raids like the one of chicago's south side. after the atf's special response team finishes work, it's here at the atf lab where the gathered evidence arrives for analysis. >> in come cases we'll get fired bullets that we cannot readily identify and we'll compare those against bullets that we have on file. >> 10,000 bullets fill these drawers at the lab in suburban maryland. matching a bullt to a gun makes

the link and helps solve the crime. beginning with firing the weapon in question into water. you fire the bullet in here and the resistance from the water slows it up and allows you to recover the bullet infact. >> in a pristine condition, yes. >> each gun leaves unique marks on every bullet fired, just like a fingerprint. >> we'll just load the firearm twice into the water. >> you couldn't i.d. these by the naked eye, could you? >> certainly not. you certainly need the aid of a microscope. >> next he checks the bullet against those from the crime scene. >> in a sense a split screen of both bullets. >> it's a split screen as you rotate the bullets in juxtaposition we come to a point where we can see the individual peaks, ridges, furrows and the

spatial relationship are corresponding. >> so, in other words, the same gun fired both of these bullets. >> absolutely. >> he knows his stuff. his testimony about the rifle used in the d.c. sniper shootings help convict john allen muhammad. muhammad used a bush master .223 caliber. the kind of high-power weaponry that is extremely common in street crime. to get a firsthand look at some of it, i visited the gun vault run by richard vasquez there are over 8,000 weapons here. everything from saddam hussein's rifle to a gun that looks like a tire gauge to guns that have been altered. >> we see a lot of shotguns, and we see shotguns that have been cut down. >> talk about sawing off. this one, actually, you can see where it was sawed. >> you can see the saw marks. >> you're wearing a coat or something, you have this on your side. >> absolutely. >> he puts it in my face, i'll give him my wallet. >> sure.

give him anything he wants. sawed-off shotguns are illegal. but some even more impressive weapons are not. >> this would be a .50 caliber browning machine gun and a .50 caliber by federal regulation is considered sporty. these are not regulated. you can buy these like a .22 rifle. >> this is a sport weapon. gosh, this feels like it's 75 pounds. but the only real way to know the power of these guns is to shoot them. something i had never done before. wow. >> the glock is popular with police and criminals. >> if you want to hold it with your second hand. cup it like that. wow. i don't think you get an idea what the power of this. you see it on tv and in the movies. you have no idea until you pull the trigger.

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less than two miles for the french quarter in new orleans, in the shadow of the superdome is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in america, central city. in the wake of hurricane katrina, new orleans is struggling with a plague of gun violence that gives it one of the highest murder rates in the country. gangs control the streets, illegal guns flood the neighborhood. bloody gun battles over territory are commonplace. >> we've seen individuals shoot others over a sign, a look, a word, a parking space, a

girlfriend, a sign of perceived disrespect. >> to get guns off the streets of cities like new orleans, the atf and local law enforcement often work together. >> we've seen the number of drive-by shootings in the fear that these gangs have perpetuated. that's unacceptable to us. >> is it safe to say, mark, that where you're going to find illegal guns, does it necessarily follow that there's probably drugs involved as well? >> it's a very common thing. we see a lot of drug organizations arming themselves with firearms. >> operating out of this former crack house in center city is a loose nit group of nine cousins and friends with names like skinny and juice. because of their weaponry, the authorities call them. brothers at arms. they were controlling a majority, if not all of the drug actions in the area. they controlled it through

violence. >> the mayor of the new orleans police department has patrolled the streets for 34 years. >> a lot of automatic, semiautomatic handguns. the gun of choice is assault rifle. the ak-47 type guns. >> their product is more than crack. >> powder cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and ecstasy, and probably other drugs as well. >> it's a neighborhood under siege. new orleans authorities want to shut the house down. each gang member has been arrested before, but the charges haven't stuck. gang members are always guarding the house outside, armed and dangerous. the cops are at an impasso major barty turns to the atf for help. >> between the nine individuals, they were arrested 57 times by the new orleans police department in a four, five-year period. our close relationship facilitated him calling us and requesting that we start to look into the individuals to see if we could charge them federally for any violations.

>> and felonies mean mandatory jail time. their break comes from surveillance cameras mounted on light poles, trained on the crack house 24/7. the gang members are caught using their guns in plain sight. pie and tony have a falling out and their feud plays out in front of the crack house. >> you can see one of the defendants smashing out the car window of another defendant's car with a handgun. the individual who owns the vehicle is called for, and you can see him motions for somebody inside this house to hand him out a gun. shortly after that a gun is handed out to him as the car is leaving. he follows with a rifle and attempts about a half a block up to fire the weapon. the weapon does not fire. you see the individual that handed him the gun come out and retrieve the weapon from him and comes back inside. >> several months later they catch skinny breezingly shooting at a rival.

>> there's a couple of small children, one of which was not more than 2 1 or 2 years old standing or sitting on the steps leading up to the main entrance there. a car drives by -- >> and as the defendant is approaching, an standing on the outside of these step who you can see clearly turn around, she knows what's abut to happen. she recognizes there's about to be a shooting, and she flees into the house, past the kids, and literally a couple of feet from these kids, starts shooting at the car. just in broad daylight start shooting at the car. an incredibly violent act. the kids are left there. immediately after the shooting you see something almost equally remarkable. the house empties out of 20 individuals in a steady stream out of this house knowing full well with a daylight shooting the police would be responding pretty shortly. >> with this video alone, the atf has enough evidence to make

several arrests on federal weapons charges. but with more investigation, agent eberhart realizes he can bring down the whole gang on a tougher charge, conspiracy to distribute narcotics with firearms. >> everybody had prior arrests and prior convictions for narcotics and/or gun violences. all of those prior arrests and/or convictions we utilized in our investigation. >> plain-clothed agents spread out and make the arrest. they investigate the neighborhood and find it riddled with guns and drugs. all part of the brothers in arms turf. in all, 20 guns are rounded up. a high-power arsenal including pistols, rifles, revolvers and something usually seen in the military. >> it was the one being carried down the street in attempt to shoot at a fleeing vehicle. >> atf agent, david harper. >> high caliber firearm.

high capacity magazine. fires the same caliber as an m-16, assault rifle used by the troops in iraq. obviously very dangerous in that type of urban setting. >> in fact, a shell shot by this gun can kill someone five football fields away. >> they're all extremely weapon. most particularly the assault weapons you see here. >> atf agent eberhart and the new orleans police make their case. a federal grand jury returns a lengthy indictment on gun and drug charges. >> the 30-count indictment. we ended up with 30 separate violations. 30 counts against those nine individuals. >> faced with overwhelming evidence against them, all nine gang members pled guilty. they're now behind bars serving 10 to 25 years in federal prisons with no chance of parole. a high-speed chase.

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the atf doesn't just focus on gun crime in cities. many times agents are called in to help local officials in rural areas. they bring with them manpower, technology, and in this case, lots of patience. bowling green, kentucky, gun shops dot the hillsides on back country roads. hunting and sporting are a way of life. kentucky state troopers grew up in the area. they know the value here people place on owning guns. >> about every home has got some type of weapon in it. it's rural country. it's a lot of hunters, a lot of people around here believe in their right to bear arms. i believe in that. that's one of the things we're out here protecting. >> life here is peaceful. but it's about to be shattered by four days of violence.

it all starts with a fire at a local barn which kills four horses. the owner suspects arson. which the atf investigates. so local agent, david hayes is called in. >> i remember taking a call from a lady that owned the barn. she was very upset about losing her horses in the fire. >> the owner suspects 43-year-old russell sublet, a former farm hand. sublit had left on bad terms, so heys pays him a visit to ask about the barn fire and discovers something else. >> we conducted some more interviews about the fire and developed information that russell sublet had possession of a sawed off shotgun. >> they're small enough to be concealed and illegal. one week later hayes gets a warrant to search sublet's house. sublet agrees to meet, but 30 minutes later cancels saying he has to take his dad to a doctor's appointment.

hayes goes to the doctor's office to present sublet with a warrant. suddenly he hops in his car and pulls out of the parking lot. >> there he goes. he's out of the hospital because there goes his car. >> the atf and state troopers are on sublet's tail, closely following him. >> we followed him for a couple ofr opof miles trying to let the atf agent catch up. >> then he makes a move that alarms police. >> i could see him look over. leans up, slides something under his leg. >> i wonder what he's doing. >> the state troopers suspect it's a gun. >> and then you can tell he floored it and took off at a high rate of speed. >> the troopers follow as sublet speeds off. >> at one point i was over 100 miles an hour. >> the trooper is so nervous he reaches for his phone. >> i never made a phone call like that before. i called my wife.

>> just say a prayer for us, okay. >> then the chase turns more treacherous. sublet begins weaving and driving towards oncoming traffic. >> there was times when he would pass other vehicles in the left lane. it appeared he would aim his vehicle at approaching vehicles in the other lane. >> our main concern was to slow him down. if he's not going to stop, let's slow him down. >> i do most of the talking on the radio trying to keep post of the other units advised. >> mcchesney radios mayberry that he want to use a tire deflation device called stop sticks to end the chase. >> he ran over them perfectly. i think it deflated three of the four tires on his vehicle. >> sublet's car finally slows down. >> his air is going out of his tires and he lost control and slams into another vehicle. >> on a dirt road. he ain't messing around. >> i thought the pursuit was going to end there.

>> sublet again hits the gas and takes off. >> all four tires are out. >> he continued on. sparks flying with the bare rims. >> after driving for a mile on rims, the car gives out. the police move in. >> he was coming out of the window when i was starting to exit my vehicle. i could tell he had something in his hand. he comes up with that weapon and that's when the first rounds are fired. >> and he turns and he shoots in our direction. simultaneous while he's doing that, a vehicle that was coming opposite direction had stopped. he runs to that vehicle and actually gets the lady out at gunpoint. we see a lady exit the driver's side of the vehicle and actually run across the road. at that point he is inside the vehicle and throws it in reverse, backs up and turns it around and continues.

>> once he car jacked the vehicle he had a good distance on you. because we had to get back to our vehicle. >> go, go go. >> he's in another vehicle. >> then we kicked back in with pursuit mode. westbound on u.s. 68. >> he tind in the same direction. we still thought he was headed back to his residence. >> but again, sublet has his own ideas. on this road heading towards his house he veers wildly and makes a surprise move. >> all i saw was dust. >> after a 20-mile chase he crashes through a fence and drives through the front door of one of the most expensive homes in all of bowling green. >> i still thought he lost control, i didn't know it was his intention. >> once he hit the fence, i knew this was getting ready to get bad. >> one armed man against an army of law men.

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bowling green, kentucky. after leading police on a 20-mile high-speed chase, firing on them and carjacking a second car, russell sublet crashes into the front door of a huge mansion. >> i pulled up to the front of his house and saw it. i actually, you know, my first thought was, well, this guy is taking over south fort ranch. the old dallas soap opera. >> he has a good reason for picking this house. he knows it well.

he used to work here. >> i think he picked the house because of the resentment he had to the owner. for basically firing him. >> police quickly track down the homeowner fortunately there is no one home. but there's a huge problem, an arsenal of his family's guns in the basement. atf special agent arrives at the scene. >> he had numerous weapons. he had high-powered rifles, many mounted with scopes. shotguns, handguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition. we had a pretty good idea of what we were facing from the beginning. >> 14 guns in all with a stockpile of ammunition. all now part of russell sublet's one-man army. >> he knew every inch of the house. he immediately started engaging us with a high-powered rifle and shotgun, firing inside the house.

and then gunshots directed outside. >> then a chilling development. the homeowner reaches sublet by phone. sublet says he's bitter over being fired. he says he plans to "go out like a cowboy", and take as many officers with him as he can. >> it was six hours that i laid up there with him popping off the rounds, me in the front yard of this house. >> it was really hard to tell where the shots were coming from and where they were being shot out. since the house was so large. >> since he was shooting and hanging tough, they devise a strategy to capture him. >> that would include shutting off power to the house and watter to the house. anybody he may have a ability to talk on a cell phone, getting those conversations ended. >> the standoff stretches into a second day. now more than 120 agents are on the scene at a makeshift command post. he continues to fire a stream of bullets from the basement stairs to the front windows. to get a closer look, the atf

sends in two robots, the kind used in bomb threats. >> it was a great tool for us. we could not put one of our special response team members that close to an active shooter. >> agents use cameras mounted on the robots to find sublet and block the stairways, trapping him in the basement. from their command post outside, the police and agents begin talking to sublet. >> the ability to give him communications, but also for us to see visually the cameras on the robot was critical to us. negotiators kept trying to get him to talk to us. we brought in officers that he knew. that he played basketball with at different high schools in the area. we tried to get him to talk to us. >> the art of negotiation is so important. it's a tool that's very important to us on any special response team operation. >> as the day wears on, sublet

wears down. >> we want you to come out and >> oh, no, man. i've worked. i give everything i got to people and they treat me. i'm ready to go man. >> every time we would try to talk with him or engage him, he would shoot at us. >> put the gun down! >> every time sublet fires, the atf answers with a hail of bullets. day three, the waiting game continues. the agents can get no closer to the house. >> i was at a position about 85 yarz off the front of the house. no cover. trooper providing containment were laying under the cars. they had virtually no cover.

we weren't able to engage him directly because he kept standing back away from the windows when he would shoot. >> so the agents try another usually reliable tactic. tear gas. >> everyone thought once the tear gas was introduced into the house. that would speed up his surrender. i think everybody was surprised that he was able to maintain himself for that length of time in the house. >> day turns to the night and the gunfire continues. suddenly, sublet charges up the basement stairs again and fires a 12 gauge shotgun. he runs up the steps a second time.

this time, he's hit by a bullet. the force knocks him back down the stairs and it looks like the standoff might finally be over. russell sublet is hit. how will the standoff end? >> you don't know what caused him to decide to make some of the choices they make and wind up in a situation like sublet did. sure, i can download directions for you now. we got it. thank you very much! check it out. i can like, see everything that's going on with the car. here's the gas level. i can check on the oil. i can unlock it from anywhere. i've received a signal there was a crash. some guy just cut me off. i'll get an ambulance to you right away. safely connecting you in ways you never thought possible. onstar. live on. challenge the need for such heavy measures with olay. new regenerist micro-sculpting serum for firmer skin in 5 days. pretty heavy lifting

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as the standoff in bowling green enters it fourth day, russell sublet is still held up in the house with a small arsenal and 120 agents outside. suddenly, as he charges up the stairs, an atf sniper fires and the bullet hits sublet. >> russell had come up once and taken a shot at the special response team members.

the next time he presented himself he was hit. >> sublet was knocked back down. hit once in the shoulder. it looks like the incident is over, but, incredibly, sublet gets right back up. dazed, bleeding and exhausted and in need of food and water. water that would turn out to be the key. >> we took a chance at a good faith effort with him and threw him a bottle of water. after three or four days the fatigue started to play a role in it, as well. >> an exhausted and dehydrated sublet finally calms down and negotiateates. >> these guys are super great. they saved my life. i didn't trust nobody. these guys gave me water.

okay, here i am. i am going to keep my promise. >> keep your promise and i'll meet you. hold your hand up, man, everything will be fine. i promise. nothing is going to happen >> after holding off 120 federal agents, firing hundreds of rounds, sublet surrenders. the final image captured by one of the robot's cameras. russell sublet is charged and convicted of attempted murder. he will spend the rest of his life in jail. but the biggest question on everyone' mind, what made him snap? a local television station interviewed sublet by phone. >> i go through every two days to try to figure out what happened. right now i'm in tears almost talking about this.

it kills my soul. >> he says his biggest regret was the pain he caused his 12-year-old son. >> i'm sorry for not being there for him. that wasn't his daddy that did this. this was somebody else. >> you really don't know what causes him to decide to make some of the choices they make and wind up in a situation like sublet did. was it because this guy fired him from his job? everybody has a trigger point. >> for the atf, the best of all possible outcomes. >> safety is first, safety of of the public is first and safety of oour agents is second and safety to the suspect is actually important to us, as well. we want everybody to go home safely. >> while the atf works on gun crime at the national level, some cities are taking matters into their own hands. chicago and miami are arming their police with higher caliber weapons. >> i am happy to see a trend in

which law enforcement have been and are being given the tools to protect themselves from the citizens from these dangerous thugs who like to arm themselves with what they believe are state of the art weapons. >> new york city's investigation had almost immediate results. the number of crime guns on new york city streets drop ed by 1100 from 2006 to 2007. many cities are frustrated by a lack of information about your crime guns come from. because of a congressional amendment, the atf's tracing database can only be used to track guns in criminal investigations, not by cities trying to detect patterns of crime. but backers of the amendment like the national rifle association says that releasing the data more widely could violate the privacy of gun owners and compromise criminal investigations. still, the atf is making real progress. the agency working with state

and local police traced and recovered 230,000 crime guns nationwide in 2007 alone. >> any time we can close up a source of guns going to illegal people or the criminal element, it's very important to us and we do feel good about it. >> do you think the atf is starting to make a dent, at least in the illegal guns? >> yes. atf is systematically figuring out how to do this work and even more importantly how to work with local police departments because to do this right requires a local and federal partnership and it's absolutely happening and it's making a differen difference. the atf has a long history, but its most famous agent, you guessed him. elliot niss. back in the 1930s the agency was called the bureau of prohibition. the ness and his fellow agents brought down mobster al capone