City of Philadelphia - File #: 020657

• File #: 020657
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 10/24/2002
• In control: CITY COUNCIL
• Final action: 10/24/2002
• Title: Urging the Pennsylvania General Assembly to enact legislation requiring every manufacturer that ships, transports or delivers a firearm to any person in the state of Pennsylvania to include, in a sealed container, a shell casing of a bullet or projectile discharged from such firearm; and requiring the Pennsylvania State Police to create and maintain an automated electronic statewide ballistic database; and requiring that the Pennsylvania State Police enter in such database information and other ballistic data relevant to identification of the shell casing and the firearm from which it was discharged for every firearm sold, transported, or delivered to any person in the state of Pennsylvania.
• Sponsors: Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember Ortiz, Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember DiCicco, Councilmember DiCicco, Councilmember Cohen, Councilmember Cohen, Councilmember Nutter, Councilmember Nutter, Councilmember O'Neill, Councilmember O'Neill, Councilmember Rizzo, Councilmember Rizzo

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
10/24/2002	0	CITY COUNCIL	READ
10/24/2002	0	CITY COUNCIL	READ
10/24/2002	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced	Pass
10/24/2002	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced	Pass
10/24/2002	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED
10/24/2002	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED

Title
Urging the Pennsylvania General Assembly to enact legislation requiring every manufacturer that ships, transports or delivers a firearm to any person in the state of Pennsylvania to include, in a sealed container, a shell casing of a bullet or projectile discharged from such firearm; and requiring the Pennsylvania State Police to create and maintain an automated electronic statewide ballistic database; and requiring that the Pennsylvania State Police enter in such database information and other ballistic data relevant to identification of the shell casing and the firearm from which it was discharged for every firearm sold, transported, or delivered to any person in the state of Pennsylvania.
Body
WHEREAS, Requiring gun manufacturers to supply bullet samples from handguns and rifles at their time of sale and entering all pertinent information about the bullet sample and the firearm it was discharged from into a database is also known as ballistic fingerprinting; and

WHEREAS, A statewide ballistic fingerprinting system would allow investigators who have found shell casings or other ballistic evidence at a crime scene to enter data about the bullet's markings into the database and quickly retrieve information about the firearm from which the bullet was fired; and

WHEREAS, Ballistic information contained in a statewide ballistic database could lead investigators to the firearm's owner and possibly the perpetrator of violent crimes; and

WHEREAS, A statewide ballistic fingerprinting system could be instrumental in solving future crimes involving firearms in the state of Pennsylvania; and

WHEREAS, Maryland and New York have recently enacted legislation requiring gun makers to supply bullet samples from handguns and rifles at their time of sale and to enter relevant ballistic information in a statewide ballistic database; and

WHEREAS, A ballistic fingerprinting system has been widely tested and has the support of many experts, including th...