New Law Enforcement Measures Use Guns to Collect Intelligence, Keep Violent Criminals Off the Streets

This year, 128 people have been murdered in Dallas, most of them with a gun, and that number is likely to grow by the time this editorial is printed. As gun rights groups are keen to remind us, guns don’t kill people; people kill people. But Dallas police have discovered that guns can serve as valuable witnesses against the people who do pull the triggers. A new department initiative is taking a closer look at guns as sources of evidence. Acting police chief David Pughes called it “interviewing the gun.” When a crime is committed using a firearm, two separate investigations are triggered: one into the crime, another into the gun. Police track down previous owners of the gun, whether that gun has been used in previous crimes, and what “known associates” the gun has enjoyed. Doing so can reveal criminal networks, sources of illegal gun sales, and other details that help pinpoint the nexus of crimes. It’s like having an inside witness to criminal networks, one that has no moral reticence about informing on his associates.   Continue reading...