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Like most so-called 'gun-control' laws, the proposed Ballistic
Fingerprinting requirement sounds good, but will merely become another
of the 20,000 plus ineffective attempts to make criminals obey the
law should it be passed.
In a nutshell...
All firearms leave a unique pattern of dents and scratches in
bullets and shell casings fired in them. This is a
fact I will not dispute.
The proposal is to require all firearm manufacturers to provide
a spent cartridge to the state for every firearm sold at legal
retail, along with the name, address and Social Security number
of the person purchasing that firearm.
The simple-minded assumption is that a shell casing found at
the scene of a crime will lead to the person who fired the gun.
Like most ineffective laws, this sounds logical at first blush.
Let's look at this in some detail, however, and apply some really
basic logic to it.
FACT: ALL legal firearm purchases currently require a
criminal background check of the person buying the firearm.
FACT: Very few firearms related crimes are committed by the
original purchaser of the firearm. Most are committed with stolen
or otherwise illegally aquired firearms, for which the new law would
have no effect.
FACT: Most crimes committed by legal firearms owners
are easily traced back to the shooter by other means. These are in
the scant minority, however, since the VAST MAJORITY of firearm involved
crimes are committed with illegal guns. No amount of law
can change that.
FACT: In October, 2001, a report by California state ballistics
experts concluded that ballistic fingerprinting isn't currently feasible.
(According to FOX News, this report was ' hushed up' by the California
attorney general's office.) According to the referenced report, more
than 2,000 rounds from 790 pistols were test fired and compared by
computer. The match failed 38 percent of the time if the cartridges
were the same headstamp. If they were from different manufacturers
the failure rate went up to over 60%.
FACT: Maryland already requires ballistic fingerprinting.
So far it hasn't helped convict a single criminal though 17,000 guns
sold since January 2000 have been 'fingerprinted.
FACT: Maryland, with some of the toughest gun-control laws
in the nation has one of the highest robbery and homicide rates.
Across the river, Virginia (a state/commonwealth that trusts
her law-abiding residents as citizens rather than subjects) has
one of the lowest. DC, with the strongest anti-gun laws in the
nation, is the 2003 Murder Capital Again!.
Anyone wishing to dispute these facts is welcome
to cite their sources.
To completely defeat the proposed law,
all a criminal needs do is any of the following;
- Use a stolen, used, pawned, old or black-market firearm,
(Most crimes are committed by these anyway) rendering millions of
dollars in laws, databases and regulations completely impotent.
- Use a patched ball in a muzzle loader. A 47" Hawken
.50 Caliber with a Minieball is a great 'sniper' rifle even at 300-400
yards! This would render millions of dollars in laws, databases and
regulations completely impotent.
- Don't leave your shell casings behind. A 15.00 'catch-bag'
can solve that problem, or you can make one with a wire coat hanger
and a baggie in about 10 minutes for about ten cents. This would
render millions of dollars in laws, databases and regulations completely
impotent.
- Buy a .59 cent steel brush and spend 10 minutes scratching
up the chamber of the gun, rendering millions of dollars in laws,
databases and regulations completely impotent.
- Two minutes with a Dremel can render any firearm 'fingerprint
free.'
- Spend 1 minute with a nail file and scratch up the firing
pin and distort the firing pin guide. This also makes millions of
dollars in laws, databases and regulations completely impotent.
- Use Reloaded Ammo.
- Replace the barrel.
If this 'ballistic registration' scam actually did work,
another scary possibility is that some bad guy will pick up someone
elses spent casings at a range. They could either reload them, or just
drop them at a crime scene. Some innocent, law-abiding citizen or even
a law enforcement officer could then easily find themselves implicated
in a crime.
IN A NUTSHELL: Gun Control Laws Only Affect Law Abiding
Citizens because Criminals Don't Obey the Law!
What is so hard to grasp about
that last concept?
Now, the Visual Aids:
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