Minuteman Monthly Newsletter Issue 28 November 2002 Welcome to the 28th issue of the Minuteman Monthly Newsletter. I want to welcome all the latest subscribers. I am glad to see that visitors to SaveTheGuns.com are choosing to get involved and not just simply reading my opinions and using my advice. JUST A FEW DAYS LEFT TO ELECTION DAY 2002. THE DAY THAT THE GUN CONTROL ISSUE TURNS THE U.S. SENATE MAJORITY BACK TO THE PRO-GUN SIDE. __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ SaveTheGuns.com Quotes of the Month "Quemadmoeum gladis nemeinum occidit, occidentis telum _est" ("A sword is never a killer, it's a tool in the killer's hands") Lucius Annaeus Seneca "the younger" ca. (4 BC - 65 AD) "All persons shall bear arms, and every male person shall have in continual readiness a good musket or other gun, fit for service." Connecticut Gun Code of 1650 "The great pillars of all government and of social life .[are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible." Patrick Henry (1736-1799) American Orator and Statesman _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ SaveTheGuns.com Gun Safety Tip of the Month ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire. There is a natural tendency to place the index finger inside the trigger guard. This MUST be avoided. Condition yourself to place your shooting hand index finger along the side of the frame. There is no reason whatsoever that your finger should be on the trigger unless you have safely and appropriately acquired your target and your sight picture and are ready for the trigger squeeze. This gun safety rule is actually one of the three (3) basic rules of safe gun handling. It is my experience and belief that this natural tendency to place the index finger on the trigger when handling a firearm is the highest cause of unintended firearm discharge. It is also my experience that placing a finger on the trigger when handling a firearm is most common in people who are just learning about firearms and that is the type of person that I want to reach most with this gun safety message. I know all you pros out there automatically put your index finger alongside the frame, but in most cases, people just learning how to handle firearms, that finger goes right on that trigger. Now for the latest issue of the Minuteman Monthly ******************************************************** ******************************************************** The November Issue of the Minuteman Monthly This month's issue concerns a misguided effort that has been adopted by a couple of states, namely Maryland and New York. This issue is what many have called "Ballistic Fingerprinting". "Ballistic Fingerprinting" is just an anti-gun/media contrived buzz-word that they are using to make Ballistic Imaging Technology seem more reliable and absolute than it really is. The issue of "Ballistic Fingerprinting" is wrought with errors, misconception and outright lies. The effort at state level requires both a bullet and a fired shell casing for each gun to be submitted for examination and entry into a computerized database, along with the make, type, action and caliber of the firearm and of course the owner's name and address. ############################################ ############################################ Did You Know? SaveTheGuns.com sells books? http://www.vstore.com/vstorereading/savetheguns SaveTheGuns.com sells pin-on buttons and t-shirts? http://www.savetheguns.com/buttons_and_shirts.htm SaveTheGuns.com is a CheaperThanDirt.com affiliate? http://www.qksrv.net/click-1101834-1161489 SaveTheGuns.com needs contributions to stay alive? http://www.savetheguns.com/contributions.htm Sign up for PayPal today... Click this link https://secure.paypal.com/refer/pal=markel@tmlp.com Want to really help? Become a member: http://www.savetheguns.com/membership.htm CAN YOU HELP? SAVETHEGUNS.COM has had only $958.00 in contributions since January 2000. http://www.SaveTheGuns.com/contributions.htm ############################################### ############################################### "Ballistic Fingerprinting" Continued... The Bullet: The grooves that are cut into the inside of a rifled barrel, leave a set of markings on the bullet. Documenting these markings can be useful in some cases if a suspect's firearm matches the caliber of the bullet recovered from the victim. The rifle or handgun is then test-fired, usually into a barrel of water. The markings on the recovered bullet are compared to the bullet recovered from the victim. If they are a perfect match on a microscopic level, that can be good evidence to convict a suspect of murder. However, there are problems to address, when considering a statewide or nationwide database that could last for decades. The markings left on a fired bullet will change over the course of months and years. The signature left on a bullet from the rifling or imperfections in the barrel are NOT like a fingerprint. After a few hundred to a thousand rounds or so, the tested bullet in the statewide computerized database would become useless. A real fingerprint on a human being is the same from long before birth, all the until they lay you in your grave. A human fingerprint never changes and is completely unique, just like DNA. The markings left on a bullet can be nearly identical if two firearms came from the very same manufacturing lot and have the same identical part numbers and similar serial numbers. It is conceivable that if you own a firearm that was "ballistically fingerprinted" and a murder was committed with an identical firearm with back to back serial numbers, that you could be implicated in a crime where there are no solid leads. Especially with the knowledge that these signature markings can and do change over time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Casing For those new to shooting, the complete cartridge consists of four components. The case, bullet, gunpowder and primer. "Ballistic Fingerprinting" also includes microscopically documenting the fired casing. The fired case can have a set a markings on it, that may be valuable in confirming or rejecting the use of a suspect's particular firearm. There are three things which are looked at when documenting a fired case: 1.) The indent made on a primer by the firearm's firing pin. 2.) The markings made near the mouth of the case, that come from the inserting and withdrawing of the case from the chamber. 3.) The markings made on a case by the ejector that is usually attached to the bolt. (note: revolvers have no such ejector markings. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a study on Ballistic Imaging Technology, the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Forensic Services, discovered that there were significant problems in linking weapons used by criminals to bullets or cases that were used in those guns when they were new. In fact, the study showed that the system used, incorrectly matched fired bullets to firearms as much as 62.5% of the time. In addition to that, it misidentified used shell cases to firearms as much as 77.8% of the time. It is for this reason that the Fraternal Order of Police (F.O.P.) was recently quoted as saying, "The FOP does not support any federal requirement to register privately owned firearms with the federal government,". And that is precisely the only thing that a nationwide database including these markings would do. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Problems with Ballistic Imaging Technology... The indent on a primer from a firing pin varies from shot to shot, let alone from firearm to firearm. In my opinion, the primer indent could be narrowed down to a particular manufacturer, but I am skeptical whether or not a particular firearm could be eliminated or confirmed by primer indent alone. Again, through normal wear and tear, the signatures left on cases by both the chamber and the ejector can change over time. Not to mention the fact that any of these things can be easily changed by someone who has just committed a violent felony with a particular firearm. On many firearm models, even the barrel itself can be swapped out, without a gunsmith's help. The ejector and firing pin can be replaced with new ones, and the chamber signature on a case can be altered by inserting a round metal file into the chamber and taking out a small amount of metal filings with it or the firing pin itself could easily be filed to change its signature. ################################################# ################################################# In Conclusion... In summing up my argument against "Ballistic Fingerprinting", I would state the following points: 1.) Registering cases from revolvers that don't leave fired cases behind, would be just gun owner/firearm registration. 2.) Shotguns that cannot be ballistically fingerprinted at all, would result in simply owner/firearm registration. 3.) The whole process would cost tens of millions of taxpayer dollars. 4.) So far, in Maryland and New York, their "ballistic fingerprinting" database has not been used to solve any crimes. Yet it still costs plenty of money to maintain. Almost 50,000 firearms, gun owners and the ballistic signatures of the guns have been logged into databases and have not played a role in solving a single crime. 5.) "Ballistic Fingerprinting" is really a method to disguise total firearm/gun owner registration. In fact, it is really just what I might call de-facto gun registration, which of course is unconstitutional. 6.) Criminals and felons always use stolen firearms to commit their murderous acts. Because violent criminals would never use their own licensed, legal and "fingerprinted" guns, the database would be costly and useless gun owner registration. 7.) In Haynes v. U.S. (309 U.S. 85, 1968), a convicted felon successfully appealed his conviction for unlawful possession of an unregistered short-barreled shotgun, citing the Fifth Amendment's protection against self incrimination. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled: "We hold that a proper claim of constitutional privilege against self incrimination provides a full defense to prosecutions either for failure to register a firearm under sec.5841 or for possession of an unregistered firearm under sec.5851." Haynes v. U.S. basically means that convicted felons do not have to register their guns or have them "ballistically fingerprinted" because it would fall under self-incrimination covered by the Fifth Amendment. 8.) Violent felons have a terrible habit of not registering their firearms or applying for gun permits. They instead steal them or borrow them from fellow criminals or acquaintances. Even when they purchase firearms, they have someone else do the paperwork, called a "straw purchase", or they use fraudulent identification to complete the sale. 9.) SaveTheGuns.com fully supports legislation that curtails the violent felon's access to firearms, while leaving the law-abiding gun owner alone. The Issue of "Ballistic Fingerprinting" does neither. It burdens the law-abiding gun owner and does absolutely nothing as a deterrent to violent criminals. Put SaveTheGuns.com down in the DO NOT SUPPORT column on this issue. In short, "Ballistic Fingerprinting" = Gun Owner / Gun Registration. To see a presentation on "Ballistic Fingerprinting", go here... http://www.flashbunny.org/content/fingerprint.html ################################################ ################################################ Please feel free to print, post, quote, forward or otherwise pass on or use the information in this issue of the Minuteman Monthly to educate your family, friends or legislators. All I ask is that if you use this newsletter in any way, mention that you got it from. HTTP://WWW.SAVETHEGUNS.COM Thank you for registering as a Minuteman Monthly Newsletter Recipient. If you don't want this newsletter or the legislative alerts anymore, just send me an e-mail with "Unsubscribe MMM" in the subject line to: info@savetheguns.com