Law enforcement seeks illegal gun use tracking

Paul B. Johnson, The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
·1 min read

Oct. 26—HIGH POINT — Law enforcement agencies from the greater High Point area are working with federal authorities to put information on guns used in local crimes into a national database with the goal of finding those who used firearms illegally.

For the next two weeks, representatives of 21 law enforcement agencies in Guilford, Randolph and Davidson counties will bring guns seized as part of criminal investigations to a mobile federal testing lab at the new High Point Police Department headquarters on Westchester Drive. The goal is to enter information on every gun used in an area crime and seized this year into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network.

High Point Police Department Capt. Patrick O'Toole said the testing doesn't involve legally purchased guns owned by law-abiding private citizens.

The goal of the testing is to codify information on illegally used or possessed firearms to solve crimes. Ballistics and firearms tracing helps connect guns and people to crimes.

The ability to recover and trace a firearm or a shell casing helps law enforcement identify who fired the gun and how they got it.

"We are using it as an evaluation tool to help us determine whether or not a weapon was used in the commission of a crime," O'Toole told The High Point Enterprise. "We can get the ballistic signature of the weapon and put that in a database and match that to the crimes we are investigating."

The High Point Police Department has seized more than 330 firearms so far this year and began on Monday to enter the most recent firearms seized into the database network through the federal mobile unit.

pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul

pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul