GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1999

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 1192

Short Title:  Tracing Crime Weapons.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Representatives Kinney; and Hardaway.

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Referred to:  Judiciary III.

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April 15, 1999

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE TRACING OF FIREARMS USED IN THE COMMISSION OF A CRIME.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 114-10 reads as rewritten:
"§ 114-10.  Division of Criminal Statistics.
The Attorney General shall set up in the Department of Justice a division to be designated as the Division of Criminal Statistics. There shall be assigned to this Division by the Attorney General duties as follows:
(1)	To collect and correlate information in criminal law administration, including crimes committed, arrests made, dispositions on preliminary hearings, prosecutions, convictions, acquittals, punishment, appeals, together with the age, race, and sex of the offender, information regarding all firearms seized, forfeited, found, or otherwise coming into the possession of any State or local law enforcement agency of the State that are believed to have been used in the commission of a crime, and such other information concerning crime and criminals as may appear significant or helpful. To correlate such information with the operations of agencies and institutions charged with the supervision of offenders on probation, in penal and correctional institutions, on parole and pardon, so as to show the volume, variety and tendencies of crime and criminals and the workings of successive links in the machinery set up for the administration of the criminal law in connection with the arrests, trial, punishment, probation, prison parole and pardon of all criminals in North Carolina.
(2)	To collect, correlate, and maintain access to information that will assist in the performance of duties required in the administration of criminal justice throughout the State. This information may include, but is not limited to, motor vehicle registration, drivers' licenses, wanted and missing persons, stolen property, warrants, stolen vehicles, firearms registration, sexual offender registration as provided under Article 27A of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes, drugs, drug users and parole and probation histories. In performing this function, the Division may arrange to use information available in other agencies and units of State, local and federal government, but shall provide security measures to insure that such information shall be made available only to those whose duties, relating to the administration of justice, require such information.
(3)	To make scientific study, analysis and comparison from the information so collected and correlated with similar information gathered by federal agencies, and to provide the Governor and the General Assembly with the information so collected biennially, or more often if required by the Governor.
(4)	To perform all the duties heretofore imposed by law upon the Attorney General with respect to criminal statistics.
(5)	To perform such other duties as may be from time to time prescribed by the Attorney General.
(6)	To promulgate rules and regulations for the administration of this Article.  Specifically, the Attorney General shall adopt and promulgate rules prescribing the form for reporting the information regarding firearms that are believed to have been used in the commission of a crime and the time and manner of submission of the form.  In addition to any other information that the Attorney General may require, the form shall include the following:
a.	The serial number or other identifying information on the firearm, if available;
b.	A brief description of the circumstances under which the firearm came into the possession of the law enforcement agency, including the crime that was or may have been committed with the firearm;
c.	The name of or other identifying information on the person from whom the firearm was taken;
d.	The original place of sale and the chain of possession of the firearm, if available; and
e.	The disposition of the firearm."
Section 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.