Committee hears ATF testimony on NIBIN while debating violent-crime bill; Senate Bill 246 moved to subcommittee

The committee heard a detailed briefing from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) as it considered a committee substitute for Senate Bill 246, a proposed "Violent Crime Prevention Act" that would require West Virginia law enforcement agencies to submit ballistics data for firearms alleged to have been used in specified violent crimes.

Acting Special Agent Albert J. "AJ" Gibbs of the ATF described NIBIN as a national system that links ballistic evidence — primarily expended cartridge cases — so investigators can determine whether casings and firearms recovered at separate scenes were fired from the same weapon. "It's the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network," Gibbs said. "This is a program that's been established since 1997 that essentially links ballistic evidence that…