The gun control debate

Most gun law proposals focus on new firearms

By Kathryn Westcott BBC News Online

The struggle to find the sniper who sowed panic in the Washington area has revived a debate over proposals to create a national system for linking bullets recovered at a crime scene to specific firearms.

Gun control advocates are calling for the setting up of national databases that could help link bullets and cartridges from a crime scene by recording their unique markings before a gun is sold.

President George W Bush waded into the debate by questioning the reliability of such databases.

The spotlight has focused on the process, known as firearm "fingerprinting" or ballistic imaging, after investigators used similar technology to link bullets recovered from bodies in the Washington area to the same gun.

Each gun has a unique set of twists on the inside of the barrel that stabilise the bullet as it flies through the air. Once the gun is fired, it imprints this "signature" onto the bullet. There is a similar unique marking imprinted onto the cartridge by the gun's firing pin and extractor.

Law enforcement groups want gun-makers to be legally obliged to file these unique markings, along with the gun's serial number, into a database. Investigators could then access these databases when investigating a crime.

Narrowing the field

Supporters of gun fingerprinting call it a valuable tool for solving crimes, but its critics say it could lead to intrusion politics by government agents.

So far, only two states - Maryland and New York - require such ballistics data to be kept.

According to Robert J Castelli, a firearms instructor, Vietnam War veteran and professor of criminal justice at Iona College and John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, gun makers in New York are required to send a spent cartridge and bullet for every new gun to the state police.

"This is good as far as it identifies a particular gun," says Mr Castelli, who spent more than 20 years with the New York State police as an investigator.

Investigators have had few leads to follow

"In New York, for example, the advantage is that if the cartridge was in storage, the gun could be identified. This could, in turn, give some leads as to the ownership of the gun."

In the US when a firearm is sold, the gun shop owner is required to fill out a form identifying the buyer. This is then sent to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

But Mr Castelli says a database would not be foolproof.

"In most cases the bullet casing isn't found and the bullet will be so mangled that it will be impossible to match it on a database," he told BBC News Online.

Technology problems

He adds that the system would not include the tens of millions of guns already on the streets and those that are obtained illegally.

"This is not a panacea - it is not scientifically conclusive. It is rudimentary and unproven."

A bullet recovered from the scene of a crime could look significantly different after a number of factors have come into play - heat, high pressure, metal wear

Paul Erhardt, National Shooting Sports Foundation

Paul Erhardt, director of public relations of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the largest firearms industry trade association, says that the biggest problem appears to be the technology.

He questions whether the technology would be able to match up a casing and bullet from a new gun with spent bullets from the same gun years down the line.

"A bullet recovered from the scene of a crime could look significantly different after a number of factors have come into play - heat, high pressure, metal wear," he told BBC News Online.

He adds that it is also possible to partly erode the gun's marking by using steel brushes or acid, or to change the gun's components so that it gives a bullet casing a different "signature".

Logistics

However, he says the firearms industry is supporting a bill by Congresswoman Melissa Hart of Pennsylvania to conduct a comprehensive study of ballistic imaging to determine the effectiveness of the technology.

Last year's study by the California Department of Justice on the feasibility of a ballistics imaging database for all new handgun sales found that "automated computer matching systems do not provide conclusive results".

The focus at the moment should be helping law enforcement to get this deranged individual off our streets

Spokesman for the National Rifle Association

The study indicated that the sheer numbers of images involved that would be generated for manual review would be "impractical and will likely create logistic complications so great that they cannot be effectively addressed".

But a later report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was more optimistic.

It said that technology that can track guns has provided valuable leads for investigators and helped solve many violent firearm crimes, "which would not have been solved without it".

National Rifle Association

A spokesman for the National Rifle Association dismissed the fact that the focus of the Washington-area attacks was shifting to the issue of gun legislation.

"The focus at the moment should be helping law enforcement to get this deranged individual off our streets," he told BBC News Online.

"The actions of groups promoting a political agenda on the back of these tragedies are crass and reprehensible."

It is widely believed that the NRA and other gun-rights lobbyists oppose ballistics imaging system on the grounds that it is a step away from a database of gun owners.

The debate is unlikely to disappear quickly.

"There is a rush to do something - anything, because of the latest attacks" says Mr Erhardt. "This is why the focus at the moment is on potential gun legislation."