An Act concerning the collection of information relating to firearms used in the commission of a crime and supplementing chapter 58 of Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. a. The Attorney General shall establish and maintain within the Division of State Police a criminal firearm recovery clearing house as a central repository of information regarding all firearms seized, forfeited, found or otherwise coming into the possession of any State or local law enforcement agency which are believed to have been used in the commission of a crime. The purpose of this program is to interdict firearms and components of firearms entering New Jersey which have been used in a crime, with a particular focus on those states from which substantial numbers of firearms enter.

The Attorney General shall promulgate regulations prescribing mandatory reporting procedures for State or local law enforcement agencies, including the form for reporting such information. In addition to any other information which the Attorney General may request, the form shall require: 1) identifying information on the firearm, if available, such as the firearm's make and model, caliber, manufacturer's serial number, and the finish; and 2) a brief description of the circumstances under which the firearm came into possession of the law enforcement agency, including the crime which was or may have been committed with the firearm.

b. In any case where a State or local law enforcement agency investigates the commission of a crime in this State in which a specific firearm is known to have been used, that agency shall submit a request to the Division of State Police, which will document the request, trace the movement of that firearm and provide the local law enforcement agency with the results of the trace.

c. The Attorney General, in cooperation with the United States Department of Justice's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, shall develop and implement a strategy for the interdiction of firearms which have been used in the commission of a crime. The strategy shall include identifying firearms traffickers and suppliers of such firearms who may or may not be violating federal, State or local laws, and cooperating with appropriate law enforcement agencies in other states in the investigation and enforcement of such laws.

d. The firearm recovery data collected through the clearing house, specifically information relating to the name, address and registration or identification number, as appropriate, of the federal or state firearm licensee responsible for the first retail sale of the firearm, shall be made available in the New Jersey Uniform Crime Report, published annually by the Department of Law and Public Safety pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1966, c.37 (C.52:17B-5.5).

2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month after enactment, but the superintendent may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of the act.

STATEMENT

This bill directs the Attorney General to establish a firearms recovery clearing house. This clearing house is to be used as a central repository of information regarding all firearms seized, forfeited, found or otherwise coming into the possession of any State or local law enforcement agency which are believed to have been used in the commission of a crime.

The purpose of this program is to determine the origins of the firearms used in crimes in New Jersey with a particular focus on states from where it appears substantial numbers of those firearms came.

The bill directs the Attorney General to establish a form for State and local law enforcement agencies to complete when recovering a firearm.

This bill also directs local law enforcement agencies to request the Division of State Police to document, trace and provide results of the trace to those agencies. The bill further requires statistical data to be collected by the Division of State Police and be included in the Uniform Crime Report, as published by the Department of Law and Public Safety each year.