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A Times Editorial
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 21, 2002
It is beside the point to argue whether a nationwide database for tracing bullets to gun owners could have stopped the mystery sniper terrorizing suburban Washington. The fact remains that a tracing system could have added a vital piece to the puzzle. President Bush should stand squarely behind a national registry of these so-called ballistic fingerprints. The issue is not gun control, but protecting the public when guns are involved in a crime.
The White House sent mixed messages last week about whether it would support such a fingerprinting system. The White House spokesman first said that Bush had doubts about the technology, but later said the president had ordered a review of a ballistic fingerprinting system. Guns, when fired, leave a distinct mark on a shell casing. This is how investigators are able to determine whether bullets were fired from the same gun. The practice is used by police to process crime scenes, but they need a greater ability to trace a bullet to a gun and the gun to its specific owner.
The National Rifle Association questions the science, derides fingerprinting as a "scheme" akin to gun registration and says the process is inherently flawed because the gun's signature marking of a shell casing is altered over time by repeated firing. Some ballistic experts disagree. Congress and the administration should not wait for legislation that is acceptable to the NRA. Public safety is not a special-interest issue. We also have uninsured motorists with suspended licenses driving up and down the streets. Does that mean the government should do away with licensing laws for drivers?
Maryland and New York have a fingerprinting system for handguns, but the ideal system would hold prints nationwide from every weapon in circulation. At the very least we should require the fingerprinting of every new gun by the manufacturer, who could provide the government with a copy of the fingerprint as easily as automakers duplicate a car key. Local police need to have ready access to a central database for the information to do their jobs. Federal and state agencies will need money to enforce the plan and to maintain an accurate registry.
The science of conducting ballistic tests must continually be perfected. While criminals are not inclined to follow the law, authorities can make inroads every time they capture illegal stores of weapons. These challenges are not valid reasons to deny society a capability to track down a sniper who takes deadly aim at men, women and children.