By reading the about the case study in Stockton, I learned just how powerful guns can be as evidence for crimes. I had no idea that a database, NIBIN, provides information on guns used in crimes to match bullets with their cartridge cases. I knew that a bullet could be matched to a gun, but I had no idea how, or that there were gun databases to link guns to past crimes. The power of ballistics is incredible. In Stockton, California, 35 guns were taken off the street, and the NIBIN database helped connect these guns with crimes.
The sixth gun from Stockton was nicknamed the “Bottle Cap Gun.†It was used to murder a man when he was robbed by two members of a gang, there names were Kak and Hin. The case wasn’t solved until Hin was pulled over for drunk driving and his car was searched, and in his car, there were cartridge cases. When they were entered into the NIBIN database, the guns were linked to many other crimes. One of these guns was “The Bottle Cap Gun.†This evidence led to the conviction of both Kak and Hin.
The 23rd gun from Stockton was also linked to many crimes. After a party turned shootout, a man, named Khammey Keomanivong, was pulled over. When his car was searched, the 23rd gun was discovered. The gun was linked to the party shooting and 22 other gang shootings. The trace evidence from this gun led to six arrests and six convictions.
These guns are only two out of the 35 guns that were linked to violent crimes. The gun trace evidence, kept in the database, were able to take 16 criminals off the street. The power of ballistic evidence is shown to be very strong by the examples in Stockton. All of these cases would have gone unsolved without the gun being used as trace evidence, and guns have proved to be very important in forensics cases.