Posted on 10/09/2002 6:50:20 PM PDT by chance33_98
Gun Critics Lament Missed Chance To Track Sniper Law Applies To Handguns, But Not Rifles Posted: 4:43 a.m. EDT October 9, 2002 Updated: 8:58 p.m. EDT October 9, 2002
Gun control advocates say police might have caught the sniper in the Washington, D.C., area by now if a Maryland gun law applied to rifles.
D.C.-AREA SHOOTING SPREE Timeline, Map Images From Monday's Scene Victims Of Shootings Residents Cope Share Your Thoughts
Maryland is one of two states that requires so-called "fingerprinting" of every handgun sold by retailers. A shell casing from a test firing must be given to police.
But the law exempts rifles because of opposition from rural voters.
Eric Gorovitz of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence says the sniper attacks in and around Washington, including neighboring Maryland, are a perfect example of how valuable complete ballistic fingerprinting would be.
He thinks it should be done nationwide, for all firearms, since it's possible the rifle used by the sniper could have been bought outside Maryland, or stolen.
If stolen, he says at least police would have a lead.
Police: Sniper Leaves Behind Tarot Card Montgomery County, Md. Police Chief Charles Moose blasted two media outlets in Washington for the release of possible evidence in the sniper shooting of eight people.
Six people were killed and two others injured as a gunman continued to terrorize the surrounding Washington, D.C., area in the past week.
Moose criticized reports by WUSA-TV and The Washington Post for releasing information allegedly found in connection with the latest shooting of a 13-year-old boy outside a Prince George's County middle school. The boy is still in serious but stable condition after surgery for a single gunshot wound.
The news reports said law enforcement officials found a shell casing in the woods near the school and also a Tarot card. County officials confirmed that the Death card (similar to one pictured) from a Tarot pack was found with a message scribbled on the card -- "Dear policeman, I am God."
The message was first reported by WUSA-TV of Washington and later by The Washington Post.
Moose angrily said, "Do you want the police to work the case or do you want channel 9 (WUSA-TV) to work the case?" He said he has not heard from the public that they want the television station or the newspaper to investigate this case.
D.C.-AREA SHOOTING SPREE Timeline, Map Images From Monday's Scene Victims Of Shootings Residents Cope Share Your Thoughts
The chief also lambasted retired police officers appearing on television shows, saying that "he feels sorry for them" and they "have an ego problem." He said speculation and conjecture by retired police is "so sad."
Moose said he has investigated the leak of the information and has put the release of the tarot card incident behind him. He said he was angry because his investigators had requested that the card information not be released to the public.
Prince George's County police say there is no sign of anyone in a wooded area of Fort Washington they spent several hours searching today.
Cpl. Diane Richardson with the Prince George's County police says they are "confident" there is no one in the woods, and police are clearing the scene. They are also releasing a woman they had stopped.
Investigators are also looking at an earlier shooting in the Washington area outside a Montgomery County, Md. liquor store. A store employee was shot in the arm on Sept. 14. Ballistics testing of the bullet in that case and a comparison of shell fragments from the other sniper shootings proved inconclusive.
On Tuesday, Gov. Parris Glendening called the shooter "a coward" and urged him to give himself up. The reward for the capture of the sniper shooter has grown to $237,000.
Police say the sniper has shot eight people -- five in Montgomery County, one in D.C., one in Virginia and one in Prince George's County. Six of the eight died.
A woman in Virginia was released from the hospital on Tuesday and the 13-year-old boy in Prince George's County is in serious but stable condition.
OMG!!!!!!!! The ignorance of this statement is unbelievable.
Yes, everyone knows that ONLY law abiding citizens that register their guns with the state are the ones that would commit such heinous crimes. You never know when one of us will just snap.
Thank GOD illegal guns aren't readily and easily available to the psycho killers that want them.
MKM
releases major study on vital role of disarmament education in promoting peace
Miguel Marín Bosch 9 October – Aiming to revitalize and update past efforts to promote disarmament education, the United Nations today released a major study urging action on the issue by a wide range of players on the international scene, from global groups to religious leaders.
"There has never been a greater need for education in the areas of disarmament and non-proliferation, especially with regard to weapons of mass destruction, but also in the field of small arms and international terrorism," states the report, which was prepared by a Group of Governmental Experts appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "The disarmament and non-proliferation education challenge is substantial and requires both immediate and sustained practical efforts by national governments, international organizations and civil society."
The report contains 34 recommendations for action by all of these groups, ranging from the creation of education modules, resource guides and online programmes, to the establishment of peace museums and peace parks.
The Chairman of the Expert Group, Mexico's Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Miguel Marín Bosch, told reporters today that the study would serve to heighten the UN's coordinating role in promoting disarmament education, and would prompt governments to designate focal points to galvanize the input of all players.
Illustrating the importance of bringing this type of education to the grass-roots, he said, "Just think of what a seven- or eight-year old knows about the environment, or a 15- or 20-year old - it's miles and miles away from what he knows or she knows on disarmament and nuclear weapons and small arms." The study's recommendations aim to reverse this trend, he added.
Worse than that, there's really no guarantee that a particular pattern of bullet- or case markings is unique. This doesn't matter too much if the spent round is used to bolster a case; if they have the suspected weapon and it matches the spent round as well or better than 99 out of 100 similar weapons, that's a useful piece of additional evidence. On the other hand, if police start their investigation by identifying the 1,000 guns in their records whose markings are a plausible match for the found round, they've just compromised their investigation. After all, if there are 1,000 possible murder weapons, someone is bound to own one; the fact that a particular person happens to own one establishes nothing about his guilt.
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