1. In a county whose population is 100,000 or more:

(a) The board of county commissioners of the county shall designate a forensic laboratory or laboratories to conduct tests and perform the other duties set forth in this section.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, any law enforcement agency in the county that seizes or recovers a semiautomatic pistol or shell casing from a semiautomatic pistol which was unlawfully possessed, used for an unlawful purpose, recovered from a crime scene or reasonably believed to have been used in or associated with the commission of a crime shall, as soon as practicable after seizing or recovering the semiautomatic pistol or shell casing, deliver the semiautomatic pistol or shell casing to a designated forensic laboratory for the purpose of testing. If a semiautomatic pistol or shell casing is being used as evidence in a criminal case, the semiautomatic pistol or shell casing must be delivered to a designated forensic laboratory as soon as possible after the semiautomatic pistol or shell casing is no longer being used as evidence in the criminal case.

(c) Upon receipt of a semiautomatic pistol from a law enforcement agency pursuant to this section, the designated forensic laboratory shall:

(1) Test the semiautomatic pistol, which must include, without limitation, firing the semiautomatic pistol and photographing bullets and shell casings;

(2) Input the resulting data from the test-fired cartridge case into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network; and

(3) After performing the duties set forth in subparagraphs (1) and (2), return the semiautomatic pistol to the law enforcement agency that delivered the semiautomatic pistol.

(d) Upon receipt of a shell casing from a law enforcement agency pursuant to this section, the designated forensic laboratory shall:

(1) Conduct a ballistics test on the shell casing;

(2) Input the resulting data from the ballistics test into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network; and

(3) After performing the duties set forth in subparagraphs (1) and (2), return the shell casing to the law enforcement agency that delivered the shell casing.

(e) In addition to performing the duties set forth in paragraphs (c) and (d), a designated forensic laboratory shall:

(1) Coordinate with all participating law enforcement agencies when investigations require the use of the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network; and

(2) As feasible, provide expert witness testimony during criminal cases.

(f) A designated forensic laboratory may charge a law enforcement agency for its actual costs in performing its duties pursuant to this section.

2. As used in this section:

(a) “Designated forensic laboratory” means a forensic laboratory designated by the board of county commissioners pursuant to paragraph (a) of subsection 1.

(b) “National Integrated Ballistic Information Network” means the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network established and maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of the United States Department of Justice.

(Added to NRS by 2019, 937)