Maryland Dumps Cartridge “Fingerprint” Database

posted on November 10, 2015

After gobbling up 15 years’ worth of taxpayer funding, a Maryland “ballistic fingerprinting” effort has been ended by state officials. It’s about time, we’d suggest, since the $5 million system never solved a single case.

Beginning in 2000, the state required a fired cartridge case from every new handgun sold in the state, hoping to later provide a forensic link between cases recovered at crime scenes and their archive. Imprecise images plagued the program from the outset, wasting investigative time and resources by returning multiple (even hundreds) of matches to a single sample.

“It could have been tweaked” a forensic scientist lamented to the Baltimore Sun, despite the ATF opinion that guns used in crimes have often been stolen and resold illegally, and perhaps repeatedly. So a link to the original, lawful owner adds what, precisely? 

Being 0-for-300,000 says all that needs to be said.

Latest

Ssgreenlee
Ssgreenlee

Gun-Control Activists Are Doing This to Silence Gun Companies

If gun-control groups can suppress the speech of gun and ammo makers, then they can prevent people from learning about shooting competitions, gun-training classes, new guns and more.

What Supreme Court Justices Had to Say About Mexico’s Attempt to Demolish Our Second Amendment

Mexico is attempting to blame American firearms manufacturers for its own crime problems. Here is what the Supreme Court had to say about that.

Gun Industry Insider | Innovating Freedom’s Tool

Like many firearms-related companies, Sellmark’s brands make their reputations with innovation that gun owners want (or, perhaps, didn’t know they wanted until they saw it).

How The Federal Government Secretly Funded Gun-Control Groups

For years, American taxpayers have unknowingly funded ideological crusades. USAID was among the most-egregious examples of this.

A Uniquely American Celebration of Freedom

With over 14 acres of the latest guns, gear, personalities and more from the industry, this is a celebration of our uniquely American freedoms.

From the Editor | It is Hard to Spin This

Despite the mainstream media’s best attempts to peddle anti-gun narratives, accountability is slashing through government agencies.



Get the best of America's 1st Freedom delivered to your inbox.