End Unsolved Gun Violence
What is the Track the Bullet Initiative?
Track the Bullet is an initiative that seeks to combat unsolved crime connected to gun violence through:
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The development of a system to require tracking of ammunition through serial numbers on the projectile and the casing of the bullet that would be kept in a national database to identify the buyer.
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Development and passage of model legislation that would amend existing state Firearms Laws to require tracking of ammunition sold in those jurisdictions.
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A manufacturing/ workforce development component that will establish a new industry inscribing serial numbers on ammunition. This will provide employment for the unemployed/underemployed and help to revive manufacturing in distressed communities.
“This will streamline the process of investigating murders and crimes that include gun violence by giving law enforcement a starting point when removing the projectile from the crime scene. This ties the buyer to the ammunition by lot and serial number as the point of origin. Ballistics testing only addresses the type of gun and bullet that was used. Track-the-Bullet will put a name to the ammunition used.”
Lawrence Clark, CEO Cord Manufacturing/Track the Bullet Initiative
Why Track the Bullet?
Violent gun-related crime is plaguing urban, suburban and rural communities nationwide. Loss of jobs, income and loved ones to Coronavirus, increased poverty and food insecurity, disruption of education, mental illness, fear of what the future holds – all fallout from the pandemic – has contributed greatly to the increase in gun violence over the past two years.
According to FBI statistics, the national homicide clearance rate declined from 61% in 2019 to only 54% in 2020. The upsurge in the use of untraceable 3D ghost gun kits makes it almost impossible to find perpetrators. If you can’t track the gun, Track the Bullet!
A recent study from the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ), a nonpartisan, independent think tank, examined monthly crime rates in 29 US cities .Conducted by CCJ Research Specialist Ernesto Lopez and criminology Professor Emeritus Richard Rosenfeld, former president of the American Society of Criminology, the study found that:
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Homicides increased by 16% during the first half of 2021 – 259 more homicides – compared to the same period in 2020, and by 42% – claiming an additional 548 additional lives – compared to the same time frame in 2019.
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The gun assault rate was 5% higher in the first half of 2021 than in the first half of 2020. There were 1,360 more gun assaults in the first half of 2021 than during the same period in 2020.
Source: CCJ Impact Report July 2021 https://counciloncj.org/impact-report-1/
Ammunition tracking technology is essential to assisting law enforcement in solving of gun violence in light of the upsurge in the use of “ghost” guns. Track the Bullet will give law enforcement a reliable technical tool to help solve gun-related crimes. Although we support the Second Amendment to the Constitution, something must be done to solve crimes involving firearms, especially the murders. The perpetrators of the violence must be held accountable and the victims and their families need closure.