[marktwain]

The “trace” data is totally unscientific. It is more a fabrication of the preferences and prejudices of the people asking for traces than it is an indication of any crime. If a department requires all guns that officers come in contact with to be traced, they will have a lot of trace data, and it will have nearly zero meaning. Most traced guns have not been involved in any crime.

[sig226]

The incentives to falsify the data are financial and political. Make the bosses look good, it’s always a good career move. Make the department look good, it gets a bigger budget. So what if it’s a lie. The press lives on the lie and they’ll never tell the truth.