In 2020, the Central Weapons and Explosives Service (SCAE) of the Ministry of the Interior initiated the digital transformation of the public policy of weapons and explosives control. The Weapons Information System (WIS), a tool of this transformation, lists weapons owners and will use BASEGUN, which, thanks to artificial intelligence, will allow security forces and arms dealers to identify weapons quickly.

In France, there are 5 million gun owners: 4 million with a hunting license, 2,500 professionals (manufacturers, importers, gunsmiths, etc.) and, in addition to the hunting federation, those of shooting, ball-trap and ski/biathlon. It is essential to supervise and control the possession of firearms and, to this end, the Ministry of the Interior has announced the deployment of a new weapons information system (SIA) from February 8, 2022. This tool, previously deployed at the gunsmiths and the SCAE in October 2020, is now operational within the prefectures, a “holders’ space” has been created, SIA thus offers a networking of the weapons ecosystem: the gunsmiths, the holders and the administration. This new digital tool is based on the National File of Persons Prohibited from Acquiring and Possessing Weapons (FINIADA), on the General Weapons Reference System (RGA) and on Basegun, a tool for rapid identification of weapons using AI.

The general weapons reference system (RGA)

Weapons are classified in three categories: A, B or C. The central service of weapons and explosives is in charge of defining the category of a weapon, and consequently, its modes of marketing, acquisition and possession. In order to guarantee a uniform classification at the national level, the SCAE set up, in 2020, the General Weapons Reference System (RGA), a data library of 48,000 records which is enriched each year by several thousand new records.
Gunsmiths use it to register a weapon in their digital police book as well as Basegun, also intended for law enforcement, forensics and citizens.

Basegun, an innovative digital project of ISG

In 2016, the Entrepreneurs of General Interest program was created to enable the digital transformation of administrations. Each year, a call for projects is open to all public administrations that propose an innovative digital project. After the selection of these challenges, a call for applications is organized to recruit the candidates (the EIG) who will bring their expertise in development, data science, design, digital law and will integrate the administration for 10 months, as contract agents.

“Basegun: Instantly identify and classify a weapon in the field” is one of these challenges

In France, 6,000 to 7,000 weapons are seized each year by law enforcement agencies, which must identify them quickly to know which category of weapon they belong to in order to consider the appropriate procedure and legal proceedings. However, this identification is complex and requires a high level of expertise. According to the judicial police, 15 to 20% of seized weapons are incorrectly or not identified, which leads to no prosecution or unjustified criminal proceedings.

The challenge was to create a field application that will allow law enforcement to instantly identify a weapon from photos and also indicate the appropriate course of action.

The technical challenges

The solution must:

• provide an instant response, with a confidence rate on the classification obtained
• be based on a UX (user experience) approach guided by the innovation laboratory’s UX Lead
• be based on a trained artificial intelligence model
• be accessible in service mode (API).

Basegun will save law enforcement agencies a tedious task and allow them to focus on higher value-added missions (investigations, prosecutions, …), while reducing the risk of error. It could thus be developed at the European level within the framework of the AIS.

Translated from Focus sur Basegun, l’outil de reconnaissance des armes grâce à l’intelligence artificielle