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Maryland scraps gun "fingerprint" database after 15 failed years

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Si vis pacem, para bellum
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Millions of dollars later, Maryland has officially decided that its 15-year effort to store and catalog the "fingerprints" of thousands of handguns was a failure.

Since 2000, the state required that gun manufacturers fire every handgun to be sold here and send the spent bullet casing to authorities. The idea was to build a database of "ballistic fingerprints" to help solve future crimes.

But the system — plagued by technological problems — never solved a single case. Now the hundreds of thousands of accumulated casings could be sold for scrap.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed," said former Gov. Parris N. Glendening, a Democrat whose administration pushed for the database to fulfill a campaign promise. "It's a little unfortunate, in that logic and common sense suggest that it would be a good crime-fighting tool."
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So much for logical, "common sense" gun control.

Maryland spent millions on gun database that solved no crimes. - Baltimore Sun
 
The root of the problem is gun manufacturers, not necessarily gun owners.
 
MACS-24 said:
They can't sell them if nobody wants to buy them.
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Not only responsible people are buying them, hence why they are the problem. More sales is better for them, they don't care who they sell to.
 
Kal'Stang said:
Actually this is something that I kinda hoped would work. It wasn't intrusive and started even before the point of sale to people. Sucks that it failed but it was worth a try imo. And actually the idea behind it was valid.
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It was designed to fail and it seems to me to be, in effect, registration. It definitely wasn't "worth a try" for 15 yrs. One, maybe.
 
Shadowless said:
Not only responsible people are buying them, hence why they are the problem. More sales is better for them, they don't care who they sell to.
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That is your opinion.

So, is the problem manufacturers or buyers. Your kinda dancing around now and how does any on this relate to the OP?
 
MACS-24 said:
It was designed to fail and it seems to me to be, in effect, registration. It definitely wasn't "worth a try" for 15 yrs. One, maybe.
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It was registration of a bullet "fingerprint". Not a registration of who owned what. AFAIK no database was kept on who bought the bullets. As such, nothing wrong with it from a Rights point of view.

As for it being designed to fail...doubt that very seriously.
 
MACS-24 said:
That is your opinion.

So, is the problem manufacturers or buyers. Your kinda dancing around now and how does any on this relate to the OP?
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No, that's a FACT. Too many people have access to guns that should not have them. You actually disagree with that??

It related to the OP because this is why databases will not work.
 
Kal'Stang said:
It was registration of a bullet "fingerprint". Not a registration of who owned what. AFAIK no database was kept on who bought the bullets. As such, nothing wrong with it from a Rights point of view.

As for it being designed to fail...doubt that very seriously.
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Of course it's designed to fail. That "finger print" can be easily changed. Having said that, I haven't read about it in a few days, I was under the impression that spent casings were sent and if this is the case, when gun is bought at the dealer the casing and therefore the gun is matched to the buyer. Defacto registration.
 
Shadowless said:
No, that's a FACT. Too many people have access to guns that should not have them. You actually disagree with that??

It related to the OP because this is why databases will not work.
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If this is fact then you need to show proof that "More sales is better for them, they don't care who they sell to". Because that is a very easy and irresponsible way to lose their FFL and business. While your at it post the numbers for the "too many people" that have guns that shouldn't as you say. If these are facts then proof should be easy to come by.
 
MACS-24 said:
Of course it's designed to fail. That "finger print" can be easily changed.
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In order to do such a gun must be re-bored last I knew. Not everyone knows how to do that.

MACS-24 said:
Having said that, I haven't read about it in a few days, I was under the impression that spent casings were sent and if this is the case, when gun is bought at the dealer the casing and therefore the gun is matched to the buyer. Defacto registration.
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Except of course that the gun is not tracked to a buyer. Nor can it possibly be linked to several buyers over a period of time.
 
Shadowless said:
No, that's a FACT. Too many people have access to guns that should not have them. You actually disagree with that??

It related to the OP because this is why databases will not work.
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the sad thing is all the banoid solutions to this alleged problem have the impact of disarming good people and doing nothing to take guns away from criminals. which of course is the real goal of the banoid movement
 
Kal'Stang said:
In order to do such a gun must be re-bored last I knew. Not everyone knows how to do that.



Except of course that the gun is not tracked to a buyer. Nor can it possibly be linked to several buyers over a period of time.
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It's matching firing pins, I think and the fact that gun can be sold over and over is one of the reasons I said it was designed to fail
 
Shadowless said:
Not only responsible people are buying them, hence why they are the problem. More sales is better for them, they don't care who they sell to.
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No more than Jack Daniels does ñot care if drunk drivers or date rapists buy their product. Pretty goofy.
 
Kal'Stang said:
In order to do such a gun must be re-bored last I knew. Not everyone knows how to do that.



Except of course that the gun is not tracked to a buyer. Nor can it possibly be linked to several buyers over a period of time.
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Actually the ballistic fingerprint changes the more times the gun is fired, due to constant heat from combustion and metal fatigue. When ballistic fingerprinting was first thought up, it was argued then how it would be useless unless someone bought a gun then immediately used it in a murder.

if you take a ballistic fingerprint of a new rifle then compare it with the same rifle 3000 rounds later, the fingerprint will not be the same, though it may be close, it is like human fingerprints, close can not be used when an exact match is needed.
 
Kal'Stang said:
It was registration of a bullet "fingerprint". Not a registration of who owned what. AFAIK no database was kept on who bought the bullets. As such, nothing wrong with it from a Rights point of view.

As for it being designed to fail...doubt that very seriously.
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How could a program like that be successful? It had no chance from the start to be effective. It makes me think of "feel good" gun control.
 
beerftw said:
Actually the ballistic fingerprint changes the more times the gun is fired, due to constant heat from combustion and metal fatigue. When ballistic fingerprinting was first thought up, it was argued then how it would be useless unless someone bought a gun then immediately used it in a murder.

if you take a ballistic fingerprint of a new rifle then compare it with the same rifle 3000 rounds later, the fingerprint will not be the same, though it may be close, it is like human fingerprints, close can not be used when an exact match is needed.
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Go to the range and collect a handful of brass and scatter it around the crime scene while capturing your own brass would be a great way to confuse the situation as well
 
BretJ said:
Go to the range and collect a handful of brass and scatter it around the crime scene while capturing your own brass would be a great way to confuse the situation as well
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Technically ballistic fingerprinting is measuring and the micro level barrel imprints on the bullet, what maryland is doing is not ballistic fingerprinting, it is shell fingerprinting, which is even more stupid because firing pins do break, and replacements are easy to buy, or even slightly file down.
 
Shadowless said:
No, that's a FACT. Too many people have access to guns that should not have them. You actually disagree with that??

It related to the OP because this is why databases will not work.
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I'm not clear as to your meaning. Are you claiming that manufacturers deliberately produce more guns than the market can absorb? And because of this the bad guys have better access. How does that work?
 
jimbo said:
I'm not clear as to your meaning. Are you claiming that manufacturers deliberately produce more guns than the market can absorb? And because of this the bad guys have better access. How does that work?
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it doesn't make any sense. that is because the gun banners pretend that their real goal is controlling criminals when in reality its about limiting honest people from having guns
 
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