MARYLAND STATE POLICE REPORT CONFIRMS:
BALLISTIC FINGERPRINTING IS EXPENSIVE FAILURE
(October 27, 2003) With the delayed release of its report to legislature, MSP confirms what critics of Maryland's unique ballistic fingerprinting law have observed all along: the law is an expensive failure. After spending $2 million to establish the program, taxpayers now pick up the tab for half a million dollars in annual operating expenses (going into its fifth year.) Despite this outlay of nearly $5 million tax dollars, police have yet to nab a criminal based on the program's use.
MSP's report describes only four matches made by their software - in all cases, of guns they had already confiscated. The program's ostensible goal was to suggest a lead to investigators who collect shell cases taken as evidence from a crime scene. That has yet to happen. Moreover, the only way they could get even four matches after the fact was to have the gun already in their possession for extensive testing.
Proponents enacted their mandate for ballistic fingerprinting with the promise of "immediate impact", yet once its technical flaws became known, officials started soft peddling expectations in order to maintain funding. The report parrots Parris Glendening's spin, that compares the program to MSP's state DNA database - another expensive low-yield program - which "needs time to develop before it bears fruit." This analogy ignores the fact that DNA evidence doesn't change, whereas a firearm's signature on evidence changes with each pull of the trigger.
By calling for research in order to buy time, MSP's report confirms another point made by gun rights advocates: this law was enacted without any scientific basis for believing it could work in the first place. The law's only effect is to deny citizens high quality products made by companies that don't survive in our state's predatory regulatory environment.
The Ehrlich administration should fight to repeal this law in favor of public safety programs that work. Taxpayers deserve the best bang for our public safety buck.
http://www.direct-action.org/
( Click for low-res scan of the report! )
http://www.direct-action.org/mspscan3.pdf (2.5 megs)
Firearms Fingerprints
A computer that reads the secret "fingerprints" on spent ammo is helping detectives solve their oldest, coldest cases.
http://popularmechanics.com/science/law_enforcement/2001/10/firearms_fingerprints/print.phtml
