gun-fucious
Member
http://www.crpa.org/pressrls122702.html
California Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc.
271 East Imperial Highway, Suite 620 Fullerton, California 92835
(714) 992-CRPA . FAX (714) 992-2996
For Immediate Release: December 27, 2002
For Additional Information Contact: Chuck Michel, CRPA Spokesman
Tel: (310) 548-3703 Cell: (310)722-1324
LOCKYER COVERING UP SECOND BALLISTIC IMAGING REPORT
DOJ REFUSES TO RELEASE NEW STUDY ON FEASIBILITY
A gun ban lobby proposal to establish a ballistics imaging computer database
was introduced this legislative session by state Senator Jack Scott (D-Altadena).
State Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who apparently supports the proposal, has
recently tried to dispute a research report by his own DOJ ballistics experts,
and reportedly has gagged those experts from expressing their professional opinions
publicly. The report is posted at http://www.nssf.org/PDF/CA_study.pdf.
Now, Lockyer is refusing to release a new study, recently written by expert Jan
De Kinder in Belgium especially for Lockyer, to address the earlier DOJ report.
The De Kinder study was commissioned by DOJ in response to the controversy that
the first DOJ report generated. The new report apparently confirms the earlier
conclusion that the technology is unreliable and the database infeasible. A
CRPA public records act request has been denied, as have requests from several
media outlets.
In the initial DOJ scientific study, computer bullet sample database matching
failed 38 -
62 percent of the time, depending on the type of gun tested. And the DOJ study
does not address problems caused by normal wear, so the real-world failure rate
can be expected to be much higher. Further, the report warned that problems
of matching would soar dramatically if more guns were tested. The study's verdict:
"Computer-matching systems do not provide conclusive results... potential candidates
[for the match] must be manually reviewed." In California, annual firearm sales
exceed 250,000. It is estimated that, working 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
it would take approximately nine years to completely process the information
from just one year's sales using a single imaging system. A single ballistic
imaging system costs about $600,000, not including the operational funding required
for personnel and maintenance.
The California report also warned that "firearms that generate markings on cartridge
casings can change with use and can also be readily altered by the users." A
ballistic "fingerprint" is actually less like a human fingerprint than it is
like the tread on a car tire. Brand-new tires are essentially identical, so
new-tire tracks at crime scenes leave investigators with limited information.
Unless there happens to be a particular imperfection, only the brand and model
of the tire can be identified. Moreover, barrels can be easily changed. And
scratching part of the inside of a barrel with a nail file would alter the bullet's
path down the barrel and thus change the markings. So would putting toothpaste
on a bullet before firing it. Ballistic fingerprinting faces other serious difficulties
as well.
By draining resources away from other law enforcement needs and making it costly
for law-abiding citizens to own guns, ballistic fingerprinting could end up actually
increasing crime. The DOJ report, prepared at the instructions of the state
Legislature, reveals that a statewide system would be unwieldy and impractical.
In an apparent politically motivated move, Lockyer refused to make the report
public, and failed to give it to the Legislature by the December 2001 deadline.
But some copies of the October 2001 draft report were made available before
the issue gained national prominence. In it the California Bureau of Forensic
Services concluded that, among other things, attempting to apply the technology
to a "mass sampling of manufactured firearms" would cause so many possible matches
to be generated that the system would be "impractical," and it would "likely
create logistic complications so great that the can not be effectively addressed."
According to FOX news, the authors of the report have been forbidden to talk
with the press.
California Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc.
271 East Imperial Highway, Suite 620 Fullerton, California 92835
(714) 992-CRPA . FAX (714) 992-2996
For Immediate Release: December 27, 2002
For Additional Information Contact: Chuck Michel, CRPA Spokesman
Tel: (310) 548-3703 Cell: (310)722-1324
LOCKYER COVERING UP SECOND BALLISTIC IMAGING REPORT
DOJ REFUSES TO RELEASE NEW STUDY ON FEASIBILITY
A gun ban lobby proposal to establish a ballistics imaging computer database
was introduced this legislative session by state Senator Jack Scott (D-Altadena).
State Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who apparently supports the proposal, has
recently tried to dispute a research report by his own DOJ ballistics experts,
and reportedly has gagged those experts from expressing their professional opinions
publicly. The report is posted at http://www.nssf.org/PDF/CA_study.pdf.
Now, Lockyer is refusing to release a new study, recently written by expert Jan
De Kinder in Belgium especially for Lockyer, to address the earlier DOJ report.
The De Kinder study was commissioned by DOJ in response to the controversy that
the first DOJ report generated. The new report apparently confirms the earlier
conclusion that the technology is unreliable and the database infeasible. A
CRPA public records act request has been denied, as have requests from several
media outlets.
In the initial DOJ scientific study, computer bullet sample database matching
failed 38 -
62 percent of the time, depending on the type of gun tested. And the DOJ study
does not address problems caused by normal wear, so the real-world failure rate
can be expected to be much higher. Further, the report warned that problems
of matching would soar dramatically if more guns were tested. The study's verdict:
"Computer-matching systems do not provide conclusive results... potential candidates
[for the match] must be manually reviewed." In California, annual firearm sales
exceed 250,000. It is estimated that, working 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
it would take approximately nine years to completely process the information
from just one year's sales using a single imaging system. A single ballistic
imaging system costs about $600,000, not including the operational funding required
for personnel and maintenance.
The California report also warned that "firearms that generate markings on cartridge
casings can change with use and can also be readily altered by the users." A
ballistic "fingerprint" is actually less like a human fingerprint than it is
like the tread on a car tire. Brand-new tires are essentially identical, so
new-tire tracks at crime scenes leave investigators with limited information.
Unless there happens to be a particular imperfection, only the brand and model
of the tire can be identified. Moreover, barrels can be easily changed. And
scratching part of the inside of a barrel with a nail file would alter the bullet's
path down the barrel and thus change the markings. So would putting toothpaste
on a bullet before firing it. Ballistic fingerprinting faces other serious difficulties
as well.
By draining resources away from other law enforcement needs and making it costly
for law-abiding citizens to own guns, ballistic fingerprinting could end up actually
increasing crime. The DOJ report, prepared at the instructions of the state
Legislature, reveals that a statewide system would be unwieldy and impractical.
In an apparent politically motivated move, Lockyer refused to make the report
public, and failed to give it to the Legislature by the December 2001 deadline.
But some copies of the October 2001 draft report were made available before
the issue gained national prominence. In it the California Bureau of Forensic
Services concluded that, among other things, attempting to apply the technology
to a "mass sampling of manufactured firearms" would cause so many possible matches
to be generated that the system would be "impractical," and it would "likely
create logistic complications so great that the can not be effectively addressed."
According to FOX news, the authors of the report have been forbidden to talk
with the press.
