Covert Mission
New member
Public Gains Access to Gun Database
New Web Site Designed to Trace Weapons
June 30, 2000
By Ellen Y. Chang
HOUSTON (APBnews.com) -- If you can let people know quickly and easily if a gun is stolen,
then maybe you can cut crime, too.
At least that's the basic idea behind a new Web site called
IsThisGunStolen.com www.isthisgunstolen.com that, starting today, will let anyone
search its national database to check out the history of a
gun. It will also allow police and citizens to report stolen
weapons, said its founders, Ron West and Chris Caruso.
"It has been said that criminals will always get guns, but if
we can help reduce the value of stolen guns, or make
them a greater liability to the criminal, we strongly believe
that we can help reduce crime in the long run and
perhaps even save lives," Caruso said.
The database allows people to search for information on
firearms for free, but requires a $5 fee to post an
unlimited number of stolen guns. The fee is paid by a
credit card through a secure site. The credit card also
verifies the identity of the person making the claim,
Caruso said.
Cops have their own
A national online database of guns is not a new idea. Law
enforcement agencies have been stepping up their
efforts to track and monitor guns, bullets, and
cartridges, and an online computer network for tracing
guns was started last year by the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), which holds information on
more than 1 million traced guns.
The system, called Online Lead, is run by the ATF, a
branch of the U.S. Treasury Department that traditionally
conducts weapons traces. ATF agents can access criminal
gun traces and data on guns used in murders, robberies or other crimes. They also can
examine multiple gun sales to look for patterns that may indicate illegal shipments of guns or
bulk purchases of guns that will end up on the black market elsewhere.
The FBI and ATF also have collaborated on a database called the National Integrated Ballistic
Information Network (NIBIN). The agencies have about 500,000 of the 220 million firearms in
the country in the database, and are scheduled to have 800,000 by 2002. Digital cameras are
used to photograph bullets and cartridges, and the photos are scanned into a computer,
where they are analyzed by a software program and stored in a database waiting for bullets or
cartridges fired from the same gun to be scanned at some future point.
Selling a stolen gun
IsThisGunStolen is the first gun database for civilians. Some police departments, such as San
Antonio's, will check the history of a firearm for the public for free, crime prevention officer
Gilbert De La Portilla said, but most won't.
That leads to situations in which people unknowingly purchase stolen weapons and don't learn
of it until they try to resell them to businesses like pawn shops, which routinely check the serial
numbers of firearms, West said. The database can help would-be buyers avoid such pitfalls, he
said.
West and Caruso do not plan to rely solely on the public to build the database. They hope to
gain access to the FBI's National Crime Information Center, a database that law enforcement
uses to check for stolen items, descriptions of suspects, and criminal background histories and
active warrants. Access to the database would be restricted to checking for stolen firearms,
they said.
West and Caruso said their database will eventually allow police to search for firearms by the
type, area code, state or zip code. They also hope to add a feature so that gun owners can
report their stolen guns not just to the database, but also to the police simultaneously, without
having to file a police report.
Looking for help from police
The founders said they hope that the Web site, hosted by Worldwide Systems Analysis, a
Houston-area Web hosting and design firm, will be used as another tool by the nation's
30,000 law enforcement agencies.
The five founding members are either former police officers, related to police officers, or are
actively involved in local law enforcement community groups, and West and Caruso have
begun talks with law enforcement agencies on working together. So far, they report that
many of them have responded favorably to the project.
The Web site also plans to offer rewards to people who provide information on stolen firearms
that are recovered by police. The rewards will be funded in part by the user fees, they said.
Tracing guns and ammunition, especially those used to commit a crime, has long been tough
for police to handle and enforce with 220 million firearms in the country.
The ATF said that there are about 400,000 gun crimes in the U.S. each year.
[This message has been edited by Covert Mission (edited July 10, 2000).]
New Web Site Designed to Trace Weapons
June 30, 2000
By Ellen Y. Chang
HOUSTON (APBnews.com) -- If you can let people know quickly and easily if a gun is stolen,
then maybe you can cut crime, too.
At least that's the basic idea behind a new Web site called
IsThisGunStolen.com www.isthisgunstolen.com that, starting today, will let anyone
search its national database to check out the history of a
gun. It will also allow police and citizens to report stolen
weapons, said its founders, Ron West and Chris Caruso.
"It has been said that criminals will always get guns, but if
we can help reduce the value of stolen guns, or make
them a greater liability to the criminal, we strongly believe
that we can help reduce crime in the long run and
perhaps even save lives," Caruso said.
The database allows people to search for information on
firearms for free, but requires a $5 fee to post an
unlimited number of stolen guns. The fee is paid by a
credit card through a secure site. The credit card also
verifies the identity of the person making the claim,
Caruso said.
Cops have their own
A national online database of guns is not a new idea. Law
enforcement agencies have been stepping up their
efforts to track and monitor guns, bullets, and
cartridges, and an online computer network for tracing
guns was started last year by the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), which holds information on
more than 1 million traced guns.
The system, called Online Lead, is run by the ATF, a
branch of the U.S. Treasury Department that traditionally
conducts weapons traces. ATF agents can access criminal
gun traces and data on guns used in murders, robberies or other crimes. They also can
examine multiple gun sales to look for patterns that may indicate illegal shipments of guns or
bulk purchases of guns that will end up on the black market elsewhere.
The FBI and ATF also have collaborated on a database called the National Integrated Ballistic
Information Network (NIBIN). The agencies have about 500,000 of the 220 million firearms in
the country in the database, and are scheduled to have 800,000 by 2002. Digital cameras are
used to photograph bullets and cartridges, and the photos are scanned into a computer,
where they are analyzed by a software program and stored in a database waiting for bullets or
cartridges fired from the same gun to be scanned at some future point.
Selling a stolen gun
IsThisGunStolen is the first gun database for civilians. Some police departments, such as San
Antonio's, will check the history of a firearm for the public for free, crime prevention officer
Gilbert De La Portilla said, but most won't.
That leads to situations in which people unknowingly purchase stolen weapons and don't learn
of it until they try to resell them to businesses like pawn shops, which routinely check the serial
numbers of firearms, West said. The database can help would-be buyers avoid such pitfalls, he
said.
West and Caruso do not plan to rely solely on the public to build the database. They hope to
gain access to the FBI's National Crime Information Center, a database that law enforcement
uses to check for stolen items, descriptions of suspects, and criminal background histories and
active warrants. Access to the database would be restricted to checking for stolen firearms,
they said.
West and Caruso said their database will eventually allow police to search for firearms by the
type, area code, state or zip code. They also hope to add a feature so that gun owners can
report their stolen guns not just to the database, but also to the police simultaneously, without
having to file a police report.
Looking for help from police
The founders said they hope that the Web site, hosted by Worldwide Systems Analysis, a
Houston-area Web hosting and design firm, will be used as another tool by the nation's
30,000 law enforcement agencies.
The five founding members are either former police officers, related to police officers, or are
actively involved in local law enforcement community groups, and West and Caruso have
begun talks with law enforcement agencies on working together. So far, they report that
many of them have responded favorably to the project.
The Web site also plans to offer rewards to people who provide information on stolen firearms
that are recovered by police. The rewards will be funded in part by the user fees, they said.
Tracing guns and ammunition, especially those used to commit a crime, has long been tough
for police to handle and enforce with 220 million firearms in the country.
The ATF said that there are about 400,000 gun crimes in the U.S. each year.
[This message has been edited by Covert Mission (edited July 10, 2000).]