Guns are often used in more than one crime – and more than one state.

Now, more police departments across Connecticut have access to a national database to trace those guns and solve crimes faster.

When bullets fly, the shell casings left behind tell a story about where that gun has been, and what crimes it has been used in. “Each gun is very unique,” said Rachel Beninati, an analyst at the Connecticut Forensic Science Lab in Meriden.

She traces that history with a high-tech database called the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network.

NIBIN scans a bullet casing, then matches it to crimes across the nation.

Beninati showed News 12 how it works.

"The center image – that’s the firing pin impression. And there’s unique information within in,” she said, pointing to a 3D image of a 9 mm Luger cartridge. “These marks – if it was used in previous crimes, we could then link those together.”

The technology has actually been around for many years, but it’s only now getting to most local police departments in Connecticut.

On Thursday, Gov. Ned Lamont announced that the state now has seven NIBIN terminals, including at the Greenwich and Bridgeport police departments. Plus, a mobile unit can deploy directly to a crime scene.

“It’s 24/7 access,” said James Ferguson, the special agent in charge at the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, which manages NIBIN. “All too often, critical tools are locked in a lab that are only open between the hours of eight and five.”

NIBIN has already solved dozens of gun crimes in Connecticut. Since 2019, the database has seen 200% more entries – resulting in 500% more leads for investigators – according to the ATF. The wait time from results has been cut from more than a month down to just 24 hours.

A new state law requires local police departments to enter information into NIBIN. So far, 80 officers at approximately 25 departments are trained on the system, but that number is expected to grow.

“The fact that we have all these systems throughout Connecticut, it decreases the time they’re getting results,” Beninati said.