2003 Adopted Resolutions
71st Annual Meeting
Denver

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NATIONAL BALLISTICS IMAGING AND IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM

WHEREAS, local law enforcement agencies already have the ability to trace crime guns to original purchasers when they are recovered following the commission of a crime - working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' (ATF) National Tracing Center; and

WHEREAS, local law enforcement agencies do not have this same ability when only a bullet or cartridge is recovered from a crime scene; and

WHEREAS, through its National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), the ATF deploys the Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS) to state and local law enforcement for their use in imaging and comparing crime gun evidence, and this technology has been proven effective and has been funded by Congress; and

WHEREAS, the current NIBIN system allows police to match crime scene ballistics evidence with other crime scene ballistics evidence or collected crime guns, but does not allow police to link the ballistics evidence directly to the purchaser of the firearm unless the gun itself is recovered; and

WHEREAS, a national database similar to NIBIN but containing ballistic images of bullets and shell casings fired from new guns, prior to sale, would allow gun crime investigators to link ballistics evidence recovered at crime scenes directly to the purchaser of the firearm that produced the evidence; and

WHEREAS, bi-partisan legislation has been introduced in Congress to create a national ballistics imaging and identification system; and

WHEREAS, this system would not require gun registration, in that ATF would not hold in its system the name of any gun purchaser, but rather would only trace a gun to the purchaser if it is used in a crime,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that The United States Conference of Mayors strongly believes that a national ballistics imaging and identification system would be a significant law enforcement tool in the ongoing fight against crime, and urges its enactment by Congress and the Administration.