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http://www.bradycampaign.org/press/rele ... Record=429

Statement by Sarah Brady on the Sniper Shootings

Today, Sarah Brady, Chair of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence united with the Million Mom March, issued the following statement about the sniper shootings in suburban Maryland and the greater Washington, D.C. area:

"On behalf of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence united with the Million Mom March, I want to express our deepest sympathies to the families of the victims of these senseless shootings. Gun violence is always devastating to a community, but it is even more horrifying when such violence strikes for no conceivable reason other than to terrorize.

"As police try to track down and stop this killer, we do know this: sensible gun laws can help law enforcement solve crimes as well as prevent gun violence. The unique markings, called the 'ballistic fingerprint,' that every gun leaves on a fired bullet or shell casing have always been helpful in investigating shootings. We have already seen the usefulness of ballistic tests in definitively linking six of the eight shootings to the same firearm.

"We have also seen the limitations to ballistic fingerprinting laws in their current form. Only two states -- Maryland and New York -- require a record be kept of every new gun's ballistic fingerprint. Both states' laws are relatively new and apply only to handguns, not all long guns, which the weapon in this case almost surely is. These limitations speak to a need for a national ballistics fingerprinting law for all firearms. Doesn't it make sense for us to give law enforcement the tools they need in order to solve such crimes?

"Furthermore, according to police, the shooter could be using one of four possible firearms to carry out this shooting spree. Three of the four are assault rifles. It's important to remember that the federal assault weapons ban expires in September 2004. We do not want to put more military-style weapons capable of such devastation and worse back on our streets.

"The National Rifle Association, which claims to be on the side of law enforcement, fought the assault weapons ban and it fights ballistic fingerprinting laws. Instead of supporting measures that would help police solve crimes and prevent gun violence, it promotes the dangerous notion that 'an armed society is a polite society.' Sadly, far too many Americans every year pay the consequences of the NRA's 'polite society' with their lives."

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Can anyone point out the big flaw in her logic?

FYI when I bought my Glock it came with two empty shell cassings. Turns out the Feds had it fired twice before it could be offered on sale. My Glock's barrel (which has a serial number that also matches my pistols serial number) is now registered with a database for balistics tests. However state law does not require me to register my Glock so while its on file, my direct ownership of it is not.

Well, ballstics testing would be useful for dumbasses. Dumbasses wouldn't think of changing the rifling each time they were going to fire their gun at a different location. For the average dumbass criminal, this is good. But for this sniper stuff, with people that were obviously trained or put some thought into their crimes, this is pretty much useless. I think this is what you are referring to.

Semi smart people just buy a new barrel for their pistol. If I wanted to I could buy a half dozen barrels for my Glock. Anyone with a brain will either have throw away guns, can hide their weapon VERY well, or will alter the balistics in one way or another.

Pretty much what I said.

It changes the rifling patterns...and some bullets deform or
shatter so badly you can't figure out WTF the rifling marks are..

that, and empty cartridges can be collected with a bolt action or
by a ejection port bag.

When I first heard about the rifling marks, I thought, "Why not just slightly cut the bullets so they break up?!" And I thought about the shell casing bag too, however I forgot about that detail here. So I guess I'm on the way to thinking like and becoming a criminal.

Heh.

If a criminal really wants to get away with a crime, as in not track the pistol back to themselves but they want to use their own. The smartest thing to do is to use another barrel and then ditch the barrel some place it will never be found.

And before anyone says I am advocating a crime, I am not. It is just like saying murder mystrey writers advocate crimes by giving ideas to people who read the books.

Another thing is that you can just use a shotgun and not even worry about rifling.

And even if you could identify the rifle, who's to say the perp didn't steal it? Or who's to say the perp can't claim he lost it? "I'm sorry, ossifer, but some bad little boy broke into mah house and stole mah gun! Honest tah gawd, I dinnt dew it!"

And even if you could identify the rifle, who's to say the perp didn't steal it?

Or who's to say the suspect can't claim he lost it? "I'm sorry, ossifer, but some bad little boy broke into mah house and stole mah gun! Honest tah gawd, I dinnt dew it!"

All they can do is link the bullets fired to the gun, you need fingerprinting or very strong circumstantial evidence to link the gun to the man. Ballistics are a mean to an end, not an end in themselves.

MORAL: If you want to kill someone, do it with some other idiot's gun. or better yet, DON'T kill him!

Argh! Double post! Sorry!

What about shooting sabots or some other type of bullet where the actual projectile that impacts the target never actually came into contact witht the rifleing?

I no my father has used amunition like that in a couple of his black powder
muzzle loading rileds. I would think something similar could be done with more modern weapons.

I knew this would happen the instant I say this story. I couldn't be sure it would be Sarah Brady, but someone like her was going to do this. She even manages to implicate the NRA in the sniper shootings!

National ballisics registration for all firearms! Oh yeah, that's a wonderful idea. And when it doesn't work, for the reasons pointed out already, surely she will say that the only missing link to putting a stop to all gun crimes is to register the weapon's owner as well. Then, we will have national firearm registration just like gun-control advocates wanted in the first place.

This is a blatent exploitation of a tragic situation to further people's political goals. They propose a sound-good "solution" that any monkey with half a brain could see won't work, then when it doesn't, they propose more worthless and increasingly invasive legislation. Coincidentally, all of this legislation takes freedoms away from ordinary citizens and makes the national gov't more powerful. It irritates me to no end that more people don't see what's going on.

[/rant]