Law enforcement using gun tracing to address epidemic of kids committing violent crimes
Crime gun tracing could provide police with new clues about how kids are getting their hands on weapons.
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Crime gun tracing could provide police with new clues about how kids are getting their hands on weapons.
There's a conversation happening in Congress around modernizing the tracing system. Others want to stop progress in its tracks, and even go backwards. Senior investigative reporter Jennifer Mayerle dives into the issue.
Data shows that 58% of law enforcement agencies in Minnesota trace some weapons, but only 13% of them share what they learn.
In 2022, Minnesota agencies sent information on 5,327 crime guns to the ATF's National Tracing Center in West Virginia. That's up 14% from the year before. Most of those trace requests come from Minneapolis and St. Paul.
When it comes to solving gun crimes, knowing where the weapon originated from can make a big difference.
There are at least eight victims across the Twin Cities metro of smash-and-grab thefts from cars and the forgery that follows.
Contraband isn't new to prisons, but investigators are warning that Minnesota's prison system is being inundated by mail laced with synthetic opioids. It's such a problem that some Minnesota prisons are changing their mailroom protocols.
Across the metro and the state, dams control flooding on waterways, maintain lake levels for recreation and help fish and wildlife. Some are big structures. Others you might miss. Each has a hazard classification from little consequence to catastrophic.
In the past five years, federal prosecutors charged more than 450 felon in possession cases.
WCCO went through case after case from 2019 through 2023. Of the rights restored, two people had a gun offense after — both misdemeanors.
Each year, investigators with the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office confiscate hundreds of weapons used in crimes.
A WCCO and CBS News investigation set out to look into what happens to police-issued guns once they're no longer needed. It turned out many of them were being sold or traded back into the market.
Rural Minnesotans say they're getting hit hard by what they call a "chaotic" health care scene.
Documents obtained through months of public records requests reveal an investigation into Brooklyn Center City Councilmember Dan Jerzak last year.
Even though it's considered a lifetime ban, it isn't for everyone. In Dakota County, since 2019, 109 people there tried to have their gun rights restored. Of those, 72 succeeded.
