Each year since 1969, an Annual AFTE training seminar has been held at locations throughout the United States and Canada. The primary purpose of the annual seminars is to provide for the interchange of information as it relates to all aspects of the science of firearm and tool mark identification. The fifth anniversary training seminar in Washington, D.C. in 1974 was attended by 87 individuals, representing three countries. Five years later, the seminar in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was attended by 149 examiners from seven countries.