Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ballistic imaging: Not ready for prime time
Washington Times ^ | Wednesday, May 7, 2003 | H. Sterling Burnett

Posted on 05/06/2003 11:51:47 PM PDT by JohnHuang2

Edited on 07/12/2004 4:03:04 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

In the aftermath of the sniper attacks that plagued the District, Maryland and Virginia in the fall of 2002, Time magazine and television's "60 Minutes" publicized calls for the federal government to develop a "ballistic fingerprint" database. This would require gun manufacturers to test fire new guns, to record the cartridge case and bullet images and to supply the test information to a central agency, such as the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.


(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bang; banglist
Wednesday, May 7, 2003

Quote of the Day by solzhenitsyn

1 posted on 05/06/2003 11:51:47 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: bang_list
http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list
2 posted on 05/07/2003 12:17:54 AM PDT by Libertarianize the GOP (Ideas have consequences)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
A nice crisp, clean, forthright damning of the ballistics fingerprints idea. Nice to have it in the FreeRepublic reference banks.

I'll be the first to admit I don't know the whole story, but it -- ballistic fingerprinting -- has never passed the smell test for me.

3 posted on 05/07/2003 12:20:18 AM PDT by FreeRadical (GunDealers.com -- Internet for FFL's)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
I saw this related article. So I'll link it here while I bump this.

Ballistic imaging draws a blank

4 posted on 05/07/2003 2:00:18 PM PDT by James Mabry (Zero Tolerance for Marxists must be SOP)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Joe Brower
You seem to be the man.

This piece is probably worthy of the reference banks. At least I think that is sort of an objective around here: link stewardship in the name of research and so forth...
5 posted on 05/08/2003 12:19:22 AM PDT by James Mabry (GunDealers.com -- Find the FFL you need.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: *bang_list; AAABEST; wku man; SLB; Travis McGee; Squantos; harpseal; Shooter 2.5; ...
I am compiling a list of FreeRepublic folks who are interested in RKBA topics. If you want off my ping-list, just let me know.

Conversely, FReepmail me if you want to be added.

And my apologies for any redundant pings.


6 posted on 05/08/2003 4:46:18 AM PDT by Joe Brower (http://www.joebrower.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
As we have seen with innumerable government programs, just because it doesn't work is no reason to criticize it.
7 posted on 05/08/2003 5:40:27 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
The article fails to mention that even if the technology were perfect, that it would still be ineffective against many criminals unless all 100,000,000+ pre-existing guns were "printed" by government search of every home and other possible hiding place.

Which would lead to CWII.
8 posted on 05/08/2003 5:53:39 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (NEO-COMmunistS should be identified as such.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
Anyone who has ever field striped a .45 knows how fast you can swap the barrel and change the fingerprint.

A matter of seconds . . .
9 posted on 05/08/2003 7:11:41 AM PDT by Petruchio (Single, Available, and easy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Blood of Tyrants; Beelzebubba; Joe Brower
The gun grabbers will turn all of B.F.'s negatives into "postitives" (for them).

They will demand all gun be brought in for "retesting" every year, (at your expense) and make it illegal to "alter" the PF in any way without a special license and immediate retesting.

This testing will require your gun to be left at some state agency for a few months while they work through their backlog.

It will be illegal to so much as change a firing pin without jumping through a dozen hoops. If you don't comply, you will be committing a felony.

Their goal is to load this crap with mountains of red tape, any "violation" will of course be a felony and strip a gun owner of his RKBA.

This is exactly the approach New Jersey is taking.

10 posted on 05/08/2003 9:41:02 AM PDT by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee


11 posted on 05/08/2003 9:59:14 AM PDT by Joe Brower (http://www.joebrower.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Joe Brower
That's it. You can't reach for a gun if you're wrapped tight in red tape.
12 posted on 05/08/2003 10:03:45 AM PDT by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee
Eventually, that is exactly where they will go with it. However, to get their foot in the door, they would pass the law to include only new guns or guns being sold by FFL dealers. When the inneffectiveness of it is proven, they will claim that the reason is not because of the inherent problems with it but that the database isn't large enough and then one little change after another will follow until what you predict will happen.
13 posted on 05/08/2003 10:11:05 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Blood of Tyrants
You've got it exactly right. They will never admit it's a boneheaded idea, they will just gradually increase the scoope of the law until it's as we've said. And it will be a mega-bureaucracy, meaning lots of pork and new gubbmint jobs, so it will be a sacred cow to the 'rats.
14 posted on 05/08/2003 10:13:54 AM PDT by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee
What do you mean the Rats? The pubs have proven themselves completely willing to accept past unconstitutional laws and departments once the initial battle is lost in Congress.
15 posted on 05/08/2003 10:19:09 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Blood of Tyrants
I only meant the 'rats are drawn more to huge bloated bureaucracies full of 'rat union employees.

The "Department of Ballistic Fingerprinting" could employ ten thousand 'rat slugs in a few years, easily.

But you will still need to wait for months to get your gun back after changing firing pins. If they don't lose it or damage it.

16 posted on 05/08/2003 10:23:08 AM PDT by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson