Technically speaking, when a firearm seized by the police bears a serial number, it takes 15 seconds to find out whether it came from Canada. In Canada, handguns have been registered since the 1930s. If the firearm is not registered in Canada, we can contact our U.S. partners and give them the serial number. That number may give us the name of the person who purchased the firearm from an authorized retailer in the U.S., i.e. a firearms retailer with an American federal licence. That is how we get the information we're looking for. In that case, we know for certain that the firearm came from the United States.
The problem is that no offence was committed in the United States. The person acquires the firearm legally and, under U.S. law, can sell it to anyone without a background check.
When we seize ghost guns, there is obviously no serial number. However, by examining its frame, we can determine whether the ghost gun came from the United States. The frame is the grip, and, under the law, that is what constitutes the firearm. Most ghost guns have a Polymer80 frame. This American manufacturer operates legally in the U.S., but it's illegal to sell its products in Canada. So when we find a ghost gun with a Polymer80 frame, we can be certain it came from the United States.
Once again, it's a way of determining virtually for certain that the vast majority of firearms come from the U.S.