[andrew17]

Does ant body know why Smith includes an empty case with their firearms?
Are they keeping a spent bullet as a record of that particular firearm?
Thanks

[armoredman]

For Maryland law, I believe.

[SDC]

They don't keep a fired bullet, but they keep 1 or 2 fired cases to comply with NY and Maryland law, which requires that each new handgun sold in those states have to be "ballistic fingerprinted"; in those states, the cases are forwarded to the state police. It's been this way for 4 years or so, and they STILL haven't found a single match to a crime gun this way; an interesting experiment run by the Association of Firearms & Toolmarks Examiners last year looked at 15 brand-new Glocks that were shipped with these test cases, and in 12 out of the 15, one or both of the cases WEREN'T EVEN FIRED IN THE PISTOLS THEY WERE SHIPPED WITH. Simply more liberal feel-good nonsense. :rolleyes:

[Eskimo Jim]

Andrew,

SDC nailed it.

As an aside, I remember reading that the California Department of Justice investigated requiring 'ballistic fingerprinting' for all firearms sold in that state. The conclusion reached was that the system was too expensive and not feasible to implement.

Also, MD State Police has recommended shutting down the ballistic fingerpringint unit because it costs too much to maintain and it didn't help to find any handgun used in a crime. The only time that they got a match between brass found at the scene and the brass from a particular gun is when they already had the gun that was used in the crime.

NY also has the system for handguns but I don't know if they are going to scrap the program or its affectiveness.

-Jim

[andrew17]

Thanks!

[stans]

Actuall I think Maryland did have two matches to guns used in crimes. Turns out the police had already found those two guns by the time the match was made. I have also read that the police in Maryland now consider this to be useless as an investigative tool. Seems to work only on the tv show "CSI".

[JNewell]

A former state senator here in MA was trying to ram a ballistic fingerprinting bill through the legislature. The state police testified that they weren't in favor -- too many $ to administer, too little chance to solve crimes. I thought that was a very candid response...

[Standing Wolf]

...they STILL haven't found a single match to a crime gun this way...

In that case, they obviously need to force manufacturers to supply more fired cartridge cases. If X doesn't work, then 10 X will work ten times better.