On page 25 of the April 28, 2003 issue, there is a little article about Ballistic Fingerprinting.
The article was basically a criticism that the fingerprinting project has not begun yet.
How DARE a government agency put off spending millions and millions of dollars on a project based on a ludicrous idea.
Ballistic fingerprinting is useless.
Yes, a bullet passing through the barrel does pick up marks. But the problem is, and why the program will not work, is that unlike human fingerprints, the characteristics of that barrel change over time. They erode a bit by bit with every shot fired. They can change with a simple stroke of a metal bristled cleaning brush. Rifling can wear out completely from a barrel, given enough time. But unfortunately for this project, to render the fingerprint useless, you only need a tiny bit of change… perhaps one from a few boxes of ammo and one session at the firing range.
Let’s not forget the time honored method of “Fire Lapping†that is used to “Smooth Out†the rifling of a new barrel. Fire Lapping is used by most any competitive rifle shooter to improve the rifles accuracy. Just ask any good rifle competitor. This is in essence like sanding wood. This will forever change the microscoping markings that make up the fingerprint, rendering the effort to print it completely useless.
Unfortunately for American tax payers, rifling doesn’t heal and return to it’s original print like a human finger does. To anyone who has real knowledge of firearms, the idea of ballistic fingerprinting is as retarded as the idea of “finger printing†a set of tires for your vehicle. Sounds silly doesn’t it? Everyone who has driven a car for more than a year knows that tires just wear out and need replacing. Tires wear out fast, but it's the same thing with guns. But please, let’s ignore all the tire joints around town, and let’s study these tires too. After all, it might help in investigations of drunk drivers or stolen vehicles right?
But please, let’s take all measures necessary to pull the wool over the eyes of the masses of firearms ignorant taxpayers so we can spend tons of money on a useless program when instead we could use the money for something more useful… like funding enforcement of existing gun laws.
