New law requires police to trace guns recovered from crime scenes following WCCO investigation
A new law is aimed at solving more crimes and creating safer communities. Starting this summer, all police agencies in Minnesota will be required to trace all guns recovered from crime scenes.
Gov. Tim Walz signed the change into law following a WCCO investigation where we took you inside the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' National Tracing Center. We discovered not all agencies use the free tracing system to gain investigative leads. And even fewer shared their information. The new law will change that.
Eagan police is one of the agencies in Minnesota already tracing all crime guns through the ATF.
"It is part of our standard procedure. It does not always give us the exact information that we're looking for, but it gives us a starting point," Property and Evidence Technician Anne Marie Scheutski said.
And that's the goal. WCCO Investigates took you inside the ATF's National Tracing Center. And showed how using what's commonly called the eTrace system can lead to the origin of the gun. It can give investigators a lead. The state's largest agencies, Minneapolis and St. Paul police, utilize the free tool, and send information on all crime guns to the ATF. But close to 40% of agencies in Minnesota don't trace.
"You guys did a story on it that I saw that talked about how not all of the firearms that are confiscated at crime scenes here in Minnesota end up in the national eTrace system. And the only way really to trace the provenance of a firearm that may have been used in a crime is to figure out where it's been," DFL Senator Ron Latz said.
Latz thought it was a simple problem to solve. He introduced the bill that became law as part of his legislative agenda.
"The act of registering the firearm in the eTrace system should be best practice and standard protocol when a firearm's recovered at the scene of a crime," Latz said.
Tracing a crime gun has proven successful in the state. After St. Paul police sent information on a gun used in the fatal Truck Park shooting in 2021, it led investigators to a straw purchaser, the person who bought the gun for someone who isn't allowed to have one. The same thing happened when the guns used to ambush and kill 3 first responders in Burnsville were traced. In that case the shooter's girlfriend was charged with buying the guns.
"We want to have a complete picture of what firearms are used in crimes, and that will help us catch the people who did it," Latz said.
The law requires agencies in Minnesota to trace crime guns. And to check an often overlooked box to share that trace information state-wide.
"It just gives everyone a holistic picture. Just because there's a crime gun that's recovered someplace out of the metro doesn't mean that it's not tied back to the metro and vice versa. Ultimately, what that's going to do is going to make the community safer by either identifying the trafficking or the straws or solving the crime and arresting the individuals that are actually driving the violence in their communities," Travis Riddle, ATF Special Agent in Charge of the St. Paul Field Division, said.
Scheutski says tracing guns recovered from crime scenes is one of the most satisfying parts of her job.
"It does produce such actionable results that we can move forward and close cases on. So I think that it's great," Scheutski said.
The law goes into effect on July 1.
"We believe submitting data to and utilizing eTrace provides police with a valuable resource to enhance their investigative capabilities, solve gun-related crimes more efficiently, and develop effective strategies for reducing firearms violence," said the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association.
The Minnesota Sheriff's Association said:
The Minnesota Sheriffs' Association is actively engaged in the legislative process for matters affecting public safety.As new laws roll out, we provide updates to the elected sheriffs and their affected staff through our newsletter and through training components, if necessary.Since we are holding our sheriff and chief deputy conferences this week, we have sessions dedicated to legislative and legal updates. Since many sheriff's offices already use eTrace for all recovered or confiscated weapons, this is merely a matter of defining consistency.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension responded to the new law saying, "Like other law enforcement tools, the ATF's eTrace system can provide valuable information for law enforcement agencies investigating gun crimes in Minnesota communities."
