Bill would require law enforcement in Minnesota to track guns recovered from crime scenes
Police in Minnesota aren't required to track guns recovered from crime scenes, but a proposal to change that had its first hearing by state lawmakers on Friday.
The proposal comes less than a year after a
WCCO investigation into tracing crime guns
through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' National Tracing Center. We
took you to West Virginia to see the process
and showed how the trace can
make a difference in solving a gun crime
.
Law enforcement agencies have the ability to trace guns recovered at crime scenes through the ATF for free. WCCO discovered that not all agencies in Minnesota use the system to gain investigative leads.
Democratic state Senator Ron Latz saw WCCO's investigative series. His bill was introduced late Friday afternoon in the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.
Under the proposal, all law enforcement trace guns found at crime scenes. Latz hopes the measure will reduce violent crime, aid in the fight against gun trafficking and improve investigations.
"The purpose of it is to allow investigations where guns were found at a crime scene to figure out where the gun came from, who it belonged to, how it got into the stream of commerce, and whether or not there's been previous history of it being involved in crimes as well," Latz said. "It's really, really important for law enforcement to be able to solve crimes that involve guns."
Latz chairs the committee that heard the bill, which is part of his 2025 legislative agenda.
The bill in the Senate won't need another hearing and will be considered to be included in a broader public safety package. There is a companion bill in the Minnesota House.
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