The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, known as the ATF, works alongside police departments every day to solve gun crimes.
FOX 47's Clayton Cummins takes us inside the forensic lab at Michigan State Police to see how ballistics imaging technology is providing leads police need to help put criminals behind bars.
It's one of many locations nationwide that is part of the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, or NIBIN for short, solving crimes involving firearms.
Each gun has its own individual marking, like a fingerprint, and NIBIN can match those markings to other crimes committed nationwide.
James Deir, from the ATF said, "Through working those crimes, there is information that is readily accessible if we just take the time to investigate those like any other shooting. The process is fairly simple."
If you're a criminal and using a gun in Ohio, in Michigan, in Indiana, NIBIN is going to connect the dots and you will answer for the crimes that you commit with any illegal firearm
