O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
Page 1
PA 24-32—sHB 5280
Public Safety and Security Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E NATIONAL INTEGRATE D BALLISTIC
INFORMATION NETWORK
SUMMARY: This act conforms law to practice by requiring the Department of
Emergency Services and Public Protection’s (DESPP’s) Division of Scientific
Services to participate in the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network
(NIBIN) databank, rather than the computer-based firearms evidence databank that
prior law required the division to establish. (NIBIN is an interstate automated
ballistic imaging network that automates ballistics evaluations and is maintained by
the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.)
Additionally, the act changes prior law’s testing provisions, which allowed
handguns in a police department’s custody that pertained to a criminal investigation
to be tested. The act instead requires all firearms that pertain to a criminal
investigation, not just handguns, to be tested.
The act also subjects additional law enforcement agencies, not only police
departments, to the databank-related provisions. It also requires law enforcement
units that recover any spent cartridge case from a crime scene or an improper
firearm discharge to submit an exam of the cartridge case to the NIBIN databank
as soon as practicable.
Lastly, the act makes various minor, technical, and conforming changes to
implement its provisions, including requiring laboratory personnel to use the
NIBIN database following federal procedures and state regulations the act requires
the DESPP commissioner to adopt.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2024
FIREARMS TESTING FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS
Prior law generally allowed a police department to submit any handgun that
came into its custody during a criminal investigation to the division’s forensic
science laboratory or its own qualified firearms section for testing. The act instead
requires law enforcement units (1) to submit firearms that come into police custody
during a criminal investigation, or fired components of ammunition from the
firearms, to the laboratory or (2) if allowed by the laboratory, test fire the firearm
as soon as practicable and submit the results to the NIBIN database.
As under prior law for handguns, the act allows the laboratory to test fire any
submitted firearm and collect fired components of ammunition from the test fires.
The laboratory must label the fired components of ammunition with the firearm
manufacturer, weapon type, serial number, test fire data, and name of the person
who test fired the firearm and collected the ammunition.
O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
Page 2 of 2
LAW ENFORCEMENT UNITS
For the databank-related provisions, the act replaces the term “police
department” with the more expansive term “law enforcement unit.” In doing so, the
act extends existing law’s databank-related provisions for police departments to all
law enforcement units as defined under the act. This includes:
1. allowing units to ask the forensic science laboratory to verify any matching
result of cartridge cases, bullets, or other projectiles and to produce a report
on the results; and
2. requiring units, before issuing a handgun, to (a) test fire it and collect the
fired ammunition (the department may ask the State Police or the laboratory
to assist) and (b) seal the fired ammunition in a tamper-evident way, label
the package with certain identifying information, and submit it to the
laboratory along with two intact cartridges.
Under prior law, a “police department” included the State Police and an
organized local police department. Under the act, a “law enforcement unit” is any
state or municipal agency or department (or tribal agency or department created and
governed under a memorandum of agreement) whose primary functions include
enforcing criminal or traffic laws; preserving public order; protecting life and
property; or preventing, detecting, or investigating crime.