Even as nonviolent crime dipped across the country in 2020, homicides soared. Over the first nine months of the year, the number of killings exceed 2019 numbers by almost 21%, according to The Washington Post.
The trend affected small cities as well as large ones. Homicides jumped by 20 percent in Washington, D.C., and almost 40 percent in New York City. They also increased by more than 30 percent in cities with fewer than 10,000 residents.
Many of those homicides, of course, were committed with the use of guns. In New York City, the number of shootings nearly doubled during the first nine months of the year. There, as elsewhere, the trend has continued. In February 2021, according to the New York Police Department, there were 75 percent more shootings than in February 2020.
As gun-related crime rises, so does the burden on police investigators, some of whom work in departments facing intense budgetary pressure and staffing shortages. A firearms licensing system provides a number of tools that can help officers solve crimes more quickly,
Firearms licensing software officers solve crimes quickly, uncover unauthorized gun sales and stop weapons traffickers.
Firearm tracing is one part of a comprehensive weapons licensing system that also performs real-time background checks, retains ballistics information and automates permitting for weapons and professionals.
Learn more about GL Solutions’ Firearms Licensing Software.
