Time to start 'fingerprinting' bullets

"I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters." -- Frank
Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)

Below is a letter to the editor I just wrote in response to this screed, which in my local fishwrap (the "SHT", or Sarasota Herald-Tribune), was titled, "Sniper puts heat on gun lobby". Many such diatribes have been published in just the last few days. The drum-beating focused on "ballistic fingerprinting" has risen from the dead in the last week due to spate of shootings in the Washington, D.C. area, and the blood dancers are out in full force to further their statist agenda.

I encourage others to use my letter as boilerplate to write their own rebuttals. We are indeed engaged in an argument with those who "buy ink by the barrelfull"...

***

October 11, 2002

Letters Editor, [your_local_fishwrap_name_here]

Re: "Sniper puts heat on gun lobby"

Predictably, the series of shootings in the Washington, D.C. area have brought the anti-gun forces back out of hiding. The editorial by Mr. Clarence Page in your 10/11/02 edition, "Sniper puts heat on gun lobby", sadly attempts to capitalize on the cowardly and inhuman acts of one depraved individual.

Mr. Page's absurd hyperbole in referring to a rifle as a "weapon of mass destruction" make it apparent he has received his information from the usual sources at the gun-ban lobby. The "next logical step" of "ballistic fingerprinting" is standard fare from those who repeatedly claim that "just one more law" will somehow make a difference. 20,000-plus laws later, we're still waiting. All that is being advocated here are violations of individual freedoms based on false promises of safety.

"Ballistic fingerprinting" is useless for a few reasons. First, altering the mechanical characteristics of any firearm is indeed a simple matter, and you can be sure that criminals are indeed smart enough to know this. Second, fragments are all that have been recovered of the bullets found, and no worthwhile "fingerprints" can be gathered from mere pieces. Third, in regards to the spent casing found at one scene, this could easily have been picked up at any local shooting range and used to throw law enforcement completely off the trail.

Note also that these shootings have occurred in an area that is subject to some of the most severe firearms restrictions in the country. If simply passing laws were all that is required to ward off criminals, the Washington, D.C. area would be one of the most crime-free places in our nation. Instead, the exact opposite is true. All that has accomplished is to give the shooter a large selection of defenseless victims. The "sniper" knows this. And so does Mr. Page.

[your_name_here]

Time to start fingerprinting asinine syndicated columnists - starting with all those named Clarence Page.

(Wonder if the "page break" function in MS Word could help us out here?)

This guy who is breaking the law by MURDERing people would, I am sure, turn in his gun if owning it became illegal. /sarcasm

Efforts to implement a national system have been blocked by the gun lobby, which views it as tantamount to gun registration -- which they view as tantamount to gun confiscation.

So-called ballistic fingerprinting is the Trojan Horse for universal firearm registration. What would be the purpose of keeping these records for each and every gun, unless the purchaser and holder for the gun is also registered?

Assuming that the system works (it doesn't), what is the law enforcement utility of knowing the the serial number of a gun used in a certain crime, unless they also know the whereabouts of the gun?

And of course, the system does not work. Perfect bullets are almost never recovered from crime scenes. The "fingerprint" of a gun begins to change with the first round that is fired, and can be altered by anybody, even accidentally. Have you noticed that the State of Maryland had not yet stated that the gun used in these sniper attacks is not one of the guns in their database?

OK, truth time: What is the law enforcement utility of a system that maintains information on the whereabouts of every gun, but is useless for tracking down guns used in specific crimes?

Confiscation.

Note to murderers should fingerprinting bullets become law: Steal your weapon.

Terrorists so far seem to be registered democrats....
They dont want the common people to own family protection firearms

Many of them already do!

I never cease to be amazed at the ability of the anti-gun coalition to distribute its talking points, and then get their toadies in the media to repeat the message in lock-step fashion so quickly. Seriously, how do they do it? This is the message that Sarah B. put out on Wednesday, that was picked up by Conyers in congress on Thursday, and is appearing in op-ed pieces today. Incredible.

Great letter.

Crap! I wrote a scathing letter to JWR but I mis-spelled page a dozen times.

Oh, well, whether it Page or Paige, he's still an idiot leftist. They can figure it out.

Thanks. I cc'd Clarence Page when I mailed it to the local fishwrap earlier today, just to let him know that some of use, at least, are aware of what he's up to. Not that I expect a reply.

We've got terror right here at home, Mr. President, stirred up by a lunatic with an old-fashioned weapon of mass destruction, a gun

Right. A couple of days ago I posted here that if a .223 is "high-power", "high calibre", then a .308 or a .30-06 must be rated as a WMD.

Never try for satiric hyperbole in a world that has lost its sense of proportion.