Now I know where the Gun Registry came from!

[Grunter]

Article Heading: Police Test Firearms Register
http://www.computing.co.uk/2140164

Still doesn't explain or prove this lame-o register is actually feasible...

[noobarcheryhunter]

do any of you remember the shooting at the montreal university?i think the architect one. gun registry here in canada came from there...

[scooter]

For those who are too lazy to click....

Police test firearms register


Lancashire and Met to start trials of delayed database project in autumn



Emma Nash, Computing (http://www.computing.co.uk/) 21 Jul 2005

UK Police forces will start piloting the much-delayed national firearms certificate register in the autumn, with all forces expected to be live by the end of next year.

The Police IT Organisation (Pito) has told Computing that the National Firearms Licensing Management System (NFLMS) is working and ready for use.

The application links with the Police National Computer, providing England and Wales’ 43 police forces with regional access to the records of all firearms certificate holders.

The Metropolitan Police and Lancashire Constabulary will start live testing in September, running in parallel to their existing systems. Observers from Greater Manchester and Essex will monitor the pilots’ progress.

‘If that is successful, we would expect these two forces to continue with the new system,’ said Selvin Baker, NFLMS project manager at Pito. ‘Then we can look to establish a rollout plan for other forces.’

NFLMS was first proposed in 1997 following the Dunblane massacre. Pito was given the remit in mid-2000 to create an application, but a major re-specification of the project and technical problems during initial tests a year ago caused more delays.

‘In July 2004 we did the original testing for user acceptance,’ said Baker.

‘There were a number of issues that needed attention. For example, there was a problem with printing certificates and then with poor running within forces’ networks.

‘The decision was taken last September to suspend rollout until we had the application in an acceptable running order.’

One of the main problems lay with the bandwidth required to run the NFLMS application, a web-based system linking to an Oracle database, developed by supplier Anite.

Bandwidth requirements have changed since the project was re-specified in mid-2002, meaning many forces will have to upgrade their networks to run NFLMS.

But Tom McArthur, director of operational services at Pito, says the register should be live and operational in all forces by the end of next year, or even sooner if forces are co-operative.

‘There is a lot of resistance to change,’ he said.

‘What a national system does is force everybody onto the same standard. The boon is that we have a standard, but the bane is that you have to give up some of the performance you really like about the system you are using.’