[ladyinred]

Well we knew this was coming didn't we?
How much you want to bet the same lefties will be screaming to be lenient on the sniper(s) when he/they are caught? It will be the NRA's fault, or Bush's fault, any right winger but the sniper!

[sharktrager]

Stupid plan. All a criminal has to do is either scrape the barrel enough to change the signature, or change the barrel.

You could swap barrels on a pair of rifles, and sell one at a pawn shop using a fake name. The unsuspecting buyer would find the FBI on his doorstep after they matched the bullets, and the seller of the gun could be untraceable, because he could use a false name and address, and the time from pawning to sale would be long enough that the pawn shop would have little or no memory of who sold it.

[dd5339]

What I'm waiting to see is for some idiot politician to put together a bill to ban ALL sniper rifles. The definition of a sniper rifle will probably read something like this;

Any high or medium power rifle capable of being equipped with an optical sight.

This would mean any rifle from the Civil War to current production.

Afterall, it would be done to stop these violent attacks and to protect the children. (/sarcasm)

Semper Fi

[RAT Patrol]

Heck, how about just register everyone's DNA at birth. (/digusting sarcasm)

[coloradan]

To address gun-rights advocates' concerns that such a network could violate laws prohibiting the government from keeping gun-owner registration lists, the bill says the information could be used only to investigate crimes and not to keep tabs on law-abiding owners of firearms.

It could be but it won't be used in this way.

[coloradan]

The computer system operated by federal authorities, as of Aug. 31, contained 867,082 digitized images, primarily from ballistic evidence culled from crime scenes. So far, the more than 200 state, local and federal crime laboratories that use the system have gotten 12,000 "hits," or matches. The legislation Congress is considering would expand this database beyond guns known to have been used in a crime, to cover all newly manufactured firearms sold in the U.S.

How many cases have been solved solely because of ballistic fingerprinting? Zero. Yet another federal boondoggle.

[longtermmemmory]

and a 50 cent file will alter any result. Even regular maintenance will change the result. Or break appart bullets.

This is feeeeeel gooooood legislation again.

perhaps fewer press conferences and more actual, QUALIFIED, detective work. perhaps the media should be examining the qualifications of the investigators.

How long di it take to catch the unibomber?

[syriacus]

I think we should be fingerprinting gas station employees. To me, they are the prime suspects. (As accomplices, anyway.)

[from occupied ga]

This is just another ploy by the anti-gunners to register firearms so that they can confiscate them later. Think about it. If you have a "signature" (ignoring the fact that this is total and absolute BS, but anti-gunners will always ignore the facts anyway) it doesn't do you any good unless you have a list of the owner of the gun; hence gun owner registration.

[upchuck]

The computer system operated by federal authorities, as of Aug. 31, contained 867,082 digitized images, primarily from ballistic evidence culled from crime scenes. So far, the more than 200 state, local and federal crime laboratories that use the system have gotten 12,000 "hits," or matches.

Damned liberal press. How many of these hits have resulted in an arrest? And how many of the arrests have turned into convictions?

How convenient to omit this critical information. SLIMES!!

[Freedom2specul8]

FYI Ping

[aristeides]

I heard Gov. Glenspending on the TV yesterday. He still won't say that MD's database for handguns has even been checked. He just complains that the program doesn't apply to long-barreled weapons. Well, we still don't know for sure that this isn't being done with a handgun. What harm would it do to check the database?

[WASH]

Why does 1.58 (rifle) get a longer bar than 1.96(pistol)?

[alaskanfan]

And if this legislation passes, before the ink is even dry, some feel good liberal will stand up in congress and say "As good as this bill is it will not solve the problem of gun crimes in the United States." Thereby leaving the door wide open for yet another step toward total firearm confiscation.

Why is it so important for these liberal socialists to travel the same failed path of the Europeans? If they like Europe so much, why don't they just move there and leave us alone?

I'm certain that were my firearms to be confiscated, I would be hard pressed to get any wildlife officer to come out to my home at 2am to get the brown bear out of my chicken coop.

[antivenom]

Ballistic fingerprinting ONLY records "Point of Sale"...doesn't do squat for underground sale of stolen guns - stolen guns - guns received as gifts - guns purchased in one state and re-sold in another...guns purchased eons ago...