I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2436

To conduct a study on the effectiveness of ballistic imaging technology and 

evaluate its effectiveness as a law enforcement tool. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 11, 2003

Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, and Mr. SCOTT of 

Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To conduct a study on the effectiveness of ballistic imaging 

technology and evaluate its effectiveness as a law enforcement tool.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ballistic Imaging Eval5 uation and Study Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are the following: 

8 (1) To conduct a comprehensive study of bal9 listic imaging technology and evaluate design param-
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1 eters for packing and shipping of fired cartridge 

2 cases and projectiles. 

3 (2) To determine the effectiveness of the Na4 tional Integrated Ballistic Information Network 

5 (NIBIN) as a tool in investigating crimes committed 

6 with handguns or rifles. 

7 (3) To establish the cost and overall effective8 ness of State-mandated ballistic imaging systems 

9 and the sharing and retention of the data collected 

10 by the systems. 

11 SEC. 3. STUDY. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

13 date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General 

14 shall enter into an arrangement with the National Re15 search Council of the National Academy of Sciences, which 

16 shall have sole responsibility for conducting under the ar17 rangement a study to determine the following: 

18 (1) The design parameters for an effective and 

19 uniform system for packing fired cartridge cases and 

20 projectiles, and for collecting information that will 

21 accompany a fired cartridge case and projectile and 

22 be entered into a ballistic imaging system. 

23 (2) The most effective method for projectile re24 covery that can be used to collect fired projectiles for 
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1 entry into a ballistic imaging system and the cost of 

2 such recovery equipment. 

3 (3) Which countries are employing ballistic im4 aging systems and the results of the systems as a 

5 tool in investigating crimes committed with hand6 guns or rifles. 

7 (4) The total cost, including startup costs, oper8 ating costs, and outlays for personnel and adminis9 tration, to Federal, State, and local jurisdictions for 

10 the implementation of a ballistic imaging system. 

11 (5) The estimated yearly cost for administering 

12 a ballistic imaging system, the storage of cartridge 

13 cases and projectiles on a nationwide basis, and the 

14 costs to industry and consumers of doing so. 

15 (6) How many revolvers, manually operated 

16 handguns, semiautomatic handguns, manually oper17 ated rifles, and semiautomatic rifles are sold in the 

18 United States each year, the percentage of crimes 

19 committed with revolvers, other manually operated 

20 handguns, or manually operated rifles as compared 

21 with semiautomatic handguns or semiautomatic ri22 fles, and the percentage of each category of such 

23 crimes on record in the NIBIN system. 

24 (7) Whether in countries where ballistic identi25 fication has been implemented, a shift has occurred 
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1 in the number of semiautomatic handguns and semi2 automatic rifles, compared with revolvers, other 

3 manually operated handguns, and manually operated 

4 rifles that are used to commit a crime. 

5 (8) A comprehensive list of environmental and 

6 nonenvironmental factors, including modifications to 

7 a firearm, that can substantially alter or change the 

8 identifying marks on a cartridge case and projectile 

9 so as to preclude a scientifically reliable comparison 

10 between specimens and the stored image from the 

11 same firearm from being admissible as evidence in a 

12 court of law. 

13 (9) The technical improvements in database 

14 management that will be necessary to keep pace with 

15 database growth and the estimated cost of the im16 provements. 

17 (10) What redundant or duplicate database sys18 tems exist, or have existed, the ability of the various 

19 systems to share information, and the cost and time 

20 it will take to integrate such systems. 

21 (11) Legal issues that need to be addressed at 

22 the Federal and State levels to codify the type of in23 formation that would be captured and stored as part 

24 of a national ballistic identification program and the 
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1 sharing of the information between State systems 

2 and NIBIN. 

3 (12) What storage and retrieval procedures 

4 guarantee the integrity of cartridge cases and pro5 jectiles for indefinite periods of time and insure 

6 proper chain of custody and admissibility of ballistic 

7 evidence or images in a court of law. 

8 (13) The time, cost, and resources necessary to 

9 enter images of fired cartridge cases and fired pro10 jectiles into a ballistic imaging identification system 

11 of all new handguns and rifles sold in the United 

12 States and those possessed lawfully by firearms own13 ers. 

14 (14) Whether an effective procedure is available 

15 to collect fired cartridge cases and projectiles from 

16 privately owned handguns and rifles. 

17 (15) Whether the cost of ballistic imaging tech18 nology is worth the investigative benefit to law en19 forcement officers. 

20 (16) Whether State-based ballistic imaging sys21 tems, or a combination of State and Federal ballistic 

22 imaging systems that record and store cartridge 

23 cases and projectiles can be used to create a central24 ized list of firearms owners. 
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1 (17) The cost-effectiveness of using a Federal, 

2 NIBIN-based approach to using ballistic imaging 

3 technology as opposed to State-based initiatives. 

4 SEC. 4. CONSULTATION. 

5 In carrying out this Act, the National Research 

6 Council of the National Academy of Sciences shall consult 

7 with—

8 (1) Federal, State, and local officials with ex9 pertise in budgeting, administering, and using a bal10 listic imaging system, including the Bureau of Alco11 hol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Federal 

12 Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Forensic 

13 Services at the California Department of Justice, 

14 and the National Institute for Forensic Sciences in 

15 Brussels, Belgium; 

16 (2) law enforcement officials who use ballistic 

17 imaging systems; 

18 (3) entities affected by the actual and proposed 

19 uses of ballistic imaging technology, including manu20 facturers, distributors, importers, and retailers of 

21 firearms and ammunition, firearms purchasers and 

22 owners and their organized representatives; 

23 (4) experts in ballistics imaging and related 

24 fields, such as the Association of Firearm and Tool 

25 Mark Examiners, projectile recovery system manu-
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1 facturers, and ballistic imaging device manufactur2 ers; 

3 (5) foreign officials administering ballistic im4 aging systems; and 

5 (6) individuals or organizations with significant 

6 expertise in the field of ballistic imaging technology, 

7 as the Attorney General deems necessary. 

8 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

9 Not later than 30 days after the National Research 

10 Council of the National Academy of Sciences completes 

11 the study conducted under section 3, the National Re12 search Council shall submit to the Attorney General a re13 port on the results of the study, and the Attorney General 

14 shall submit to the Congress a report, which shall be made 

15 public, that contains—

16 (1) the results of the study; and 

17 (2) recommendations for legislation, if applica18 ble. 

19 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) The term ‘‘ballistic imaging technology’’ 

22 means software and hardware that records electroni23 cally, stores, retrieves, and compares the marks or 

24 impressions on the cartridge case and projectile of a 

25 round of ammunition fired from a handgun or rifle. 
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1 (2) The term ‘‘handgun’’ has the meaning given 

2 the term in section 921(a)(29) of title 18, United 

3 States Code. 

4 (3) The term ‘‘rifle’’ has the meaning given the 

5 term in section 921(a)(7) of title 18, United States 

6 Code. 

7 (4) The term ‘‘cartridge case’’ means the part 

8 of a fully assembled ammunition cartridge that con9 tains the propellant and primer for firing. 

10 (5) The terms ‘‘manually operated handgun’’ 

11 and ‘‘manually operated rifle’’ mean any handgun or 

12 rifle, as the case may be, in which all loading, un13 loading, and reloading of the firing chamber is ac14 complished through manipulation by the user. 

15 (6) The term ‘‘semiautomatic handgun’’ means 

16 any repeating handgun which utilizes a portion of 

17 the energy of a firing cartridge to extract the fired 

18 cartridge case and chamber the next round, and 

19 which requires a pull of the trigger to fire each car20 tridge. 

21 (7) The term ‘‘semiautomatic rifle’’ has the 

22 meaning given the term in section 921(a)(28) of title 

23 18, United States Code. 
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1 (8) The term ‘‘projectile’’ means that part of 

2 ammunition that is, by means of an explosive, ex3 pelled through the barrel of a handgun or rifle.

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