Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, unveiled
plans on Monday to film its gun sales in the United States
and create a computerized log of purchases in a bid to stop
guns falling into the wrong hands.
Wal-Mart, which is the largest seller of firearms in the
United States, agreed a 10-point code, which also includes
rigid inventory controls, with a bipartisan coalition of Mayors
Against Illegal Guns led by New York's Michael Bloomberg.
The retailer said it will develop a first-of-its-kind computerized
crime gun trace log that will flag purchases by customers
who have previously bought guns later recovered in crimes.
"Wal-Mart currently uses a strong point of sale system,"
said J.P. Suarez, senior vice president and chief compliance
officer of Wal-Mart. "This code is a way for us to fine-tune
the things we're already doing and further strengthen our
standards. We hope other retailers will join us."
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The Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership is designed
to strengthen the points in the gun purchasing system that
criminals have exploited in the past, Wal-Mart and the Mayors
Against Illegal Guns said.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives, 46 percent of its criminal gun trafficking
investigations involved cases in which someone who is not
legally allowed to purchase a firearm does so through the
use of a proxy, known as a straw buyer.