CoBIS or Gun "DNA" Watch 3/30/12 CoBIS has ended 2012-13 NEW YORK STATE EXECUTIVE BUDGET

PUBLIC PROTECTION AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT

ARTICLE VII LEGISLATION

(Part B, page 13)

PART B

16 Section 1. Section 396-ff of the general business law is REPEALED.

17 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. 2012-13 NEW YORK STATE EXECUTIVE BUDGET

PUBLIC PROTECTION AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT

ARTICLE VII LEGISLATION

MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT Part B - Repeal the requirement for a pistol and revolver ballistic identification database, known as CoBIS and replaced with a nationally recognized alternative.

Purpose:

This bill will permit the Division of State Police to terminate maintenance of a pistol and revolver ballistic identification database, known as CoBIS.

Statement in Support, Summary of Provisions, Existing Law, and Prior Legislative History:

Under current statute, the State Police is required to maintain a pistol and revolver ballistic identification database, which has become known as CoBIS (Combined Ballistic Identification System). It was designed to identify guns used in crimes by comparing unique markings on the shells of the expended casings with the marks made on all reference shells that gunsmiths and dealers send the State Police for every firearm sold in the State. Against the ballistic information for thousands of weapons entered into the system since its inception, only a few matches have been made and no associated crimes have been solved. Given the frequency of violent crimes being committed with firearms that are either reported stolen or were transported into the State illegally, CoBIS is an ineffective crime-solving tool and cannot be viewed as cost effective. This bill would repeal section 396-ff of the General Business Law to permit the State Police to eliminate CoBIS. Rather than continue support for this ineffective database, the State will invest in enhanced systems and equipment that will permit local and State crime laboratories to maximize their use of the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN). This system, which is already used by New York State law enforcement as an effective crime-solving tool, allows firearms technicians to compare markings on bullets and cartridges recovered from a crime scene with similar evidence recovered from crime scenes in other jurisdictions.

Budget Implications:

This measure will generate approximately $200,000 in savings associated with discontinuing maintenance of CoBIS. These savings will be re-invested in upgraded systems and equipment that will permit more effective use of NIBIN by local and State crime laboratories.

Effective Date:

This bill takes effect immediately. DATE # OF GUNS CHANGE MONEY SPENT

IN MILLIONS NUMBER OF POLICE HOURS WASTED* # OF CoBIS "Hits"

*see note 3/1/12** 366,828 3,378 $45,333,333 +? 227,027 2 TOTAL GUNS SOLD IN 2011: 53,190

(UP FROM 24,622 IN 2004) On 3/1/12, the program has 11 years of failure CLICK HERE FOR A MONTHLY TOTAL 3/1/10 was the 9 year anniversary of the program with a total of 265,645 guns added to the CoBIS systems. This number also includes purchases by city, county, state and other government departments. * Maximun amount of manhours worked by 10 to 15 people allocated to the program

Maryland's State Police issues final report on

Maryland's "gun DNA" program. "It is recommended that this Program be suspended, a repeal of the collection of cartridge cases from current law be enacted and the Laboratory Technicians associated with the Program be transferred to the DNA Database Unit." CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE REPORT IN PDF FORMAT (Report uses OCShooters.com's CoBIS Report as Appendix A)

Report in PDF format provided by http://www.myguns.net/ MD-IBIS, (the MD CoBIS program,) not used in murder case

Maryland’s Automated Ballistic Fingerprinting IBIS System

Played No Role in Convicting a Murderer

by Philip F. Lee, 2/15/06

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE WHOLE REPORT IN PDF FORMAT From the report: On April 2, 2005 the Washington Post published a news article [1] asserted that Maryland’s ballistic fingerprinting database was successful in gaining a convictions of Robert Garner for the murder of Kelvin Braxton outside of a Popeye’s restaurant in Prince Georges County on April 23, 2004. The Post quotes PG state’s attorney Glen Ivey saying "It was powerful evidence. I hope this verdict helps our efforts to have the [ballistics identification database] continued and expanded."

...

Many reports indicate that IBIS doesn't work, so it was surprising to hear the Ivey statement. It is worthwhile to confirm Ivey’s assertion about the usefulness of IBIS or the stored ballistic fingerprint to this case to justify future actions about Maryland’s shell casing collection process. This usefulness should be evident from the court transcripts [3] of the Garner trial. These transcripts make clear that IBIS played no role at all in solving this case or in convicting Garner of murdering Kelvin Braxton. It’s not even a close call. Police testified that IBIS was not used – rather only manual ballistic examinations were given in evidence! ... 5/7/2004 Garner arrested and charged with the murder of Braxton ...

10/25/2004 ... Maryland State Police, compares the shell casing of gun purchased by Michele Garner (Anderson) stored by MSP and retrieved by Clarence E. Fields with the evidence shell casings – specifically one of the evidence casings – manually using a comparison microscope and concludes the evidence casing and MSP stored casing are from the same gun. This murder case was also heralded by Bill Hammond who is a columnist for the New York Daily News and wrote an opinion about Pataki's CoBIS or "Gun DNA" program called "Gov has promises to keep, Pataki must get tough on Washington to make bullet DNA program work Originally published on December 27, 2005. In the article he stated; "Then maybe New York could match the success of Maryland's ballistic-imaging program, which scored its first conviction - for murder, no less - this year." (CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ARTICLE AND MY RESPONSE FROM JAN. 2006.) A big thanks to Philip F. Lee for all of the work and spending the time to put the information together. As you can guess, the anti-gun forces are upset with the Maryland State Police and The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) has issued this press release. January 19, 2005

MARYLAND STATE POLICE ACTING LIKE "KEYSTONE COPS" -- New State Report on Ballistic Identification is "Politically-Motivated Junk Science" --

(Washington, DC) - The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence today characterized a new report by the Maryland State Police recommending the repeal of the state's comprehensive ballistic identification system as "politically-motivated junk science."

The report's recommendation should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the issue in Maryland. In 2003, Governor Ehrlich, who has long supported the gun lobby, actively lobbied against efforts to expand the ballistic identification system despite the system's endorsement by David Mitchell, the former head of the Maryland State Police.

"The new report questioning the effectiveness of Maryland's ballistic identification system is nothing more than a blatant attempt to cover up the fact that the Governor and the Maryland State Police have failed to properly implement this important crime solving technology," said Josh Horwitz, Executive Director of The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence.

"The report acknowledges that the system is severely underutilized, that technicians were never properly trained, that software and other equipment was never updated, and that the state police failed to institute appropriate quality controls to prevent improper data from entering the system. These are not failures of ballistic identification, but rather reflect a complete abdication of responsibility by the state police and a total lack of leadership from Governor Ehrlich to ensure effective implementation of the technology," said Horwitz. "Instead of calling for its repeal, the state police ought to use the technology to its full crime-solving potential."

The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence's report, "Cracking the Case: The Crime-Solving Promise of Ballistic Identification," details how ballistic technology can help law enforcement solve gun crimes. Key features of the report, which can be found at www.FindTheGun.com, include: Detailed summaries and images of firearms and ammunition, and an in-depth look at how forensic experts currently use ballistic evidence to solve crimes.

An overview of the future of ballistic identification technology, including exciting new advances in microstamping.

Responses to criticisms leveled against ballistic identification technology by the gun lobby and others.

Seven policy recommendations to help law enforcement access and utilize crime-solving tools.

A comprehensive glossary of firearm and ballistic identification-related terminology. The CSVG does have some good information however it is dated and was written before some new information has come in. The report contains the following on page 21: "The New York Police Department, which is in the unique position of owning its own NIBIN terminal, has entered into a memorandum of understanding with BATFE allowing NYPD to query the state system, so long as the New York State Police, not the NYPD, review the results. That part of the CoBIS program, however, has not yet begun." That part has now "begun" and several thousand past NIBIN records have been compared with the results that one "hit" was found but that hit only showed how the system failed. The "hit" was the same type of "hit" that Maryland has had in the fact that the gun in question was already in the hands of the police and the crime was of such a low level that the statue of limitations had already run out. (You have to ignore the fact that the "evidence" from the "hit" would almost never been allowed to be used in court.)

CoBIS FINALLY HAS A HIT,

WELL, SORT OF, MAYBE

CASE #1 NOTE: 6/1/006 I finally got My FOIL request from Rochester and all of the information that I had was true. The crime was PENAL LAW 265.35 - Prohibited use of weapons: 3. Any person who, otherwise than in self defense or in the discharge of official duty, (a) wilfully discharges any species of firearms, air-gun or other weapon, or throws any other deadly missile, either in a public place, or in any place where there is any person to be endangered thereby, .... is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.. The date of the crime was 7/20/02 at 0243 and the report states that (4) 9mm shell casings were recovered from the area of 810 Thurston Rd. "Reports hearing multiple gunshots and possibly 2 vehicles traveling N/B on Thurston Rd. but nothing was seen by any."

The report then goes on to state that the case was reassigned on 12/2/04 after the CoBIS office reported a match however because the crime was a Class A Misdemeanor, the Statue of Limitations had expired.

A "Notice of Suspension" had been sent out on 5/6/03 and the gun had been turned in on 5/16/03 to the Rochester PD. At the end of 2004 CoBIS had one hit using data supplied though a loophole in federal law that allowed NIBIN information to be compared against the CoBIS Database. The hit involved a "shots fired" case in Rochester. The crime was a misdemeanor and by the time the match was made, the statue of limitations had run out. The person who owned the gun had already been in trouble and his handgun had been taken away while his license was being suspended/revoked.

This case shows several problems with CoBIS. One is that if they compared all handguns taken by the police for cause, they might have solved this "crime" before the statue of limitations had ended. Another one is that even if they had a match the next day, the police could have only shown that they got a report of shots fired and when they got there they found the spent cases. The person who owned the gun could have said many things like; the owner had some spent brass in their car and threw it out the window when they were driving in the area and then someone else shot something and the police did not find that brass, just theirs or a car had backfired and their was no shooting at all.

This is the same type of hit as Maryland had with the MD-IBIS program. While that did match a gun to "crime", the crime investigation was not "enhanced or expedited through the use of" CoBIS. In this case even if the police had gone to the person and told them they had a match and the person said that they did it, the case still could have not been taken forward because of the statue of limitation. UPDATE I got my FOIL from Rochester back and they don't know what I am talking about? CASE #2

I WANT TO REPORT A STOLEN GUN I got the foil back from this case but while it had information about what happened, it did not have anything about the CoBIS system. The second case again is out of Rochester an just like the first case, it is an example of how the system is not working. A guy was shot in the leg during an apparent drive-by and it is unclear if he was the target or just an innocent bystander but this is another case that it took over a year for the data to be entered into the NIBIN system and work its way through to the CoBIS system. By the time the match was made the gun owner had already had his license suspended/revoked. When they went to look at the paperwork they realized that while they had suspended/revoked the license they had never gone by to pick up the person's gun. They went to pick up the gun and when they asked the person where the gun was he told them where it was. When they went to get it they could not find it so they asked the person again and he said the 'it must have been stolen, I want to report a stolen gun.' The police think that this is a very "weak" case. A SUMMARY OF THE POLICE REPORT Assault 2nd-120.05 8/29/05 Officer responded to a shooting and found a man who had been shot in the upper right leg. The man was non cooperative except to said that he was walking home from a store when he heard shots and started running. He did not see anyone shooting. He was in the area visiting a cousin and did not want to give name or address.

One witness said it was a drive by but could not describe make or color of car. All other witnesses did not see anything. Five 40 cal. shell casings were located on Helena St between Frederick and North. Good Quote: "They decided to put money into CoBIS and not hire more people to enter data from real crime guns - crime labs are backed up almost a year." DEFINITIONS

CoBIS OR Co mbined B allistic I dentification S ystem. A system where the shell casing of a bullet, (or brass) from a fired round is supplied by a gun manufacturer in an approved container shipped with a new handgun that is shipped to the NY State Police when the gun is sold or if the new handgun is shipped to the Federal Firearms License holder, the FFL takes the gun to the State Police Lab to be test fired and the lab keeps the shell casing and the fired bullet. The shell casing is scanned into a computer data base to be compared against shell casing recovered from a crime location. This program has has NO success in NY while costing $4,000,000 to start and an estimated $4,000,000 a year to maintain or an average cost of about $200 per legal gun. CoBIS only collects information from legal guns that are new and have not been linked to a crime and the size of the data base in New York alone is in 10s of thousands of guns and will, within the first 3 years included almost 66,000 data files with almost 22,000 new handguns being added each year. IBIS or I ntegrated B allistics I dentification S ystem. IBIS is a computer identification system that correlates and matches projectile and shell casing ballistic evidence. It is capable of comparing both shell casings and projectiles recovered at crime scenes to weapons/evidence retrieved later. IBIS only collects information from guns or shell casings or projectiles that have been used in a crime or are illegal guns. It has been very successfully even though the total data base is only several thousand data files but all of them have been used in a crime. NIBIN Program or National Integrated Ballistic Identification Network. The ATF's nationwide ATF Ballistics Fingerprinting Program known as NIBIN requires participating federal, state and local law enforcement officers to collect bullets and shell casings from crime scenes, bring them to trained technicians to take a microscopic digital picture of the ballistic fingerprint, and have the ballistics fingerprints entered into the IBIS computer database (Integrated Ballistic Identification System). The NIBIN Program is expressly restricted to the ballistic imaging of data associated with crime guns. As of May, 2002, the NIBIN Program has collected 119,369, ballistic images of firearms evidence across the country. Since its implementation in 2000, the IBIS computer database has generated at least 4,429 "hits" or matches of ballistics evidence from different crime scenes. (Or a 3.7% success rate. At that rate NY should have had 1,113 hits so far. It has had "0".)

WEB LINK http://www.NIBIN.gov and http://www.atf.treas.gov/nibin/missing/index.htm

LINKS

NY State Law

In 1999, Gov. Mario Pataki had passed and signed several gun laws. These laws were written without any input from any one in the NY State shooting community or any debate or research. They were all passed as feel good measures so that Gov. Mario Pataki could appear later at a Million Mom March along with Sen. H****** R**** C****** and Sen. UpChuck Schumer and talk about the gun control laws he had passed and appeal for votes from the anti-gun ranks normally the domain of the Democrats. These laws were introduced in the last 3 days of the state legislative session using special powers the Governor has and were passed with no hearings, debate and in fact, many members did not have time to even read the legislation. While many would have supported most of the laws, because no one who was knowable about firearms was consulted, all of the laws contain minor problems that have a major impact that make most of the sections of the new law unacceptable.

SECTION 4, BALLISTIC IDENTIFICATION DATA BANK is the section that started the NY State CoBIS program. Funded with an initial $4,000,000, additional funding has been $4,000,000 a year but some cost are hidden in the yearly NY State budget so the true cost of the program can not be determined. The program started on March 1, 2001 and about 2,568 guns are added each month on average but that number ranges from a little over 1,100 to over 4,353 in some months. It cost almost $200 a gun to add the information to the data base and in the first 3 years of the program NOT ONE GUN has been linked to even one crime, much less solved a crime.

Even the value of a matching a gun to a crime is unknown. Because this matching technique has never been used in a court, no one can say that a match could be used as evidence in a case. The only hope would be that when the police trace a gun to a person then that person would still have the gun, (that had not been altered,) and the gun could then be tested and the results from that test used as evidence in a trial. Even if the match was accepted, it would be almost impossible to prove the "chain of custody" that would be required for the evidence to be accepted in court.

Other problems that would have to be dealt with even if the criminal does not alter the gun to change the marking is what is to prevent a criminal from using reloaded brass? That shell casing would have the marks from two or more guns. What is to prevent a criminal from going to a range and picking up fired brass and planting it at a crime?

From the NY State Police 2001, Annual Report

CoBIS

Effective March 1, an amendment to the state’s General Business Law (§396-ff) began requiring any manufacturer who ships, transports or delivers a new pistol into New York State to submit to the State Police a test-fired bullet or shell casing discharged from it for entry in New York’s Combined Ballistic Identification System (CoBIS) — the state’s ballistic information databank; alternatively, manufacturers may submit the firearm itself to State Police experts for test-firing.

Between March 1, and Jan. 31, 2002, State Police experts entered samples from 14,224 cartridges — 11,458 submitted directly by manufacturers and 2,766 from weapons test fired by the State Police — into the CoBIS database.

CoBIS captures, stores, and compares images of markings on cartridge casings and projectiles to determine possible matches for further comparison by firearms examiners. It is most useful in cases where police find or seize guns with defaced serial numbers and in cases where only spent shell casings are recovered.



The Future

After the first three years it has to be obvious to everyone that this program is a failure and a waste of money. One can only wonder how many crimes could have been solved if the money and thousands of State Police man hours had been used to solve real crimes involving real criminals instead of keeping track of data of legally owned guns owned by licensed gun owners that might, some day be used in a crime involving a random shooting where the only link between the crime and the gun is the fired brass. Even with the total failure of this program, the anti-gunners are pushing to expand the program to include all rifles and shotguns and the bullet from guns that do not automatically eject the fired brass.

WHAT DOES THE NY CoBIS PROGRAM COST?

The following is an e-mail that I got from Senator Maziarz' office :

1/30/03

George,



Here is the information you requested from me on CoBIS:

Info as of 10-24-02

Guns test fired by the NYS Police: 5,528

Shell casings from manufacturer's sent to the NYS Police: 25,762

Number of manufacturer's complying to NYS CoBIS (Nationwide): 48

Amount of Money Budgeted for CoBIS:

$4 million for FY '01-'02, 30 new positions were added to the NYS Police.

$4 million for FY '02-'03

FY '03-'04 has not happened yet but funding levels will probably stay the same.

I received this information from the New York State Police, XXXXXX-XXXX



If you have any other questions please let me know. I hope this information is helpful to you.

Sincerely,



Gary J. Rouleau

Senator George D. Maziarz

62nd, R-C-I Senatorial District

518-455-2024 Year Spent Total 1/24/05 - I have talked to someone with DCJS and these are the numbers that they gave me for the cost of the Program. They differ from those that Sen. Maziarz gave me in that between 01 and 03 the program was budged for $ 8,000,000 while this information shows that they only spent $ 5,200,000. I wonder what happened to the other $ 2,800,000?

It is almost impossible for me to tell who is right and who is wrong. Administrators of programs that are questionable, like CoBIS, try to reduce the apparent cost of the program. I have FOILed the NY State Police and I hope to find out what some of the real numbers are. 99 - 00 $ 1,000,000 $ 1,000,000 00 - 01 $ 4,000,000 $ 5,000,000 01 - 02 $ 2,600,000 $ 7,600,000 02 - 03 $ 2,600,000 $ 10,200,000 03 - 04 $ 1,500,000 $ 11,700,000 04 - 05 $ 1,500,000 $ 13,200,000 I have also found a Cached Copy of the 2001 budget on the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee web site that contains the following line: "State Police: ... $4,000,000 and 30 new positions to establish the new "Gun DNA" Ballistic Identification Databank,...

SUMMARY: Automated computer matching systems do not provide conclusive results. Rather a list of potential candidates are presented that must be manually reviewed. When applying this technology to the concept of mass sampling of manufactured firearms, a huge inventory of potential candidates will be generated for manual review. This study indicates the this number of candidate cases will be so large as to be impractical and will likely create logistic complications so great that they cannot be effectively addressed.

OCShooters.com Newsletter Articles

SECTION 4, BALLISTIC IDENTIFICATION DATA BANK

OTHER ARTICLES

LINKS TO ARTICLES

WITHOUT FACTS AND INFORMATION

Statement by Sarah Brady on the Sniper Shootings, 10/8/02

LINK: http://www.bradycampaign.org/press/release.asp?Record=429 (Please note that article states that "We have already seen the usefulness of ballistic tests in definitively linking six of the eight shootings to the same firearm." This quote relates to the IBIS program, not any existing CoBIS type program. Also "assault rifles" referred to in this article has nothing to do with the discussion. It is irrelevant what type of firearm the killer is using. In fact some bolt action rifles or handguns would be the best choice. Does it matter more what gun is being used or what type of car, van or truck is being used? If we find out that a white Dodge van is being used should we pass a law to ban white Dodge vans except for the police or say that all white Dodge vans must have a gas tank less than 5 gallons?)

LINK: http://www.bradycampaign.org/press/release.asp?Record=429 (Please note that article states that "We have already seen the usefulness of ballistic tests in definitively linking six of the eight shootings to the same firearm." This quote relates to the IBIS program, not any existing CoBIS type program. Also "assault rifles" referred to in this article has nothing to do with the discussion. It is irrelevant what type of firearm the killer is using. In fact some bolt action rifles or handguns would be the best choice. Does it matter more what gun is being used or what type of car, van or truck is being used? If we find out that a white Dodge van is being used should we pass a law to ban white Dodge vans except for the police or say that all white Dodge vans must have a gas tank less than 5 gallons?) SCHUMER: ATF STUDY PROVES EFFICACY OF GUN FINGERPRINTING; BUSH MUST ACT NOW TO BACK NATIONAL BALLISTIC FINGERPRINT SYSTEM, October 18, 2002 (Note that Sen. UpChuck Schumer is comparing IBIS that works with CoBIS that does not work.)

New Yorkers Against Against Gun Violence, (Calling for the) EXPANSION OF NEW YORK STATE COMBINED BALLISTIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM (CoBIS) to include: all projectiles from all guns sold to New York State residents that do not eject casings when fired; and all shell casings from all rifles and shotguns.

(1/26/05) - League of Women Voters of New York State supports the expanding of NY's CoBIS to "Include all projectiles from all guns sold to New York State residents that do not eject casings when fired; and Include all shell casings from all rifles and shotguns." in their May 04 State Board Report.

I talked to Aimee Allaud, Off-Board Specialist - Government/Campaign Finance Reform/Gun Control and she told me that she was unaware of the MD report or any of the problems that CoBIS had and that she, "usually takes my cues from the New Yorkers Against Gun Violence." Aimee Allaud has also distributed Million Mom march sign-up sheets at other local group meeting and has listed the League of Women Voters phone number, (518- 465-4162,) as a point of contact.

UPDATE - 1/30/05 - Rob Marchiony called me about the League of Women Voters position and said that he would talk to Aimee Allaud about it and that he would get back to me.

LINKS TO ARTICLES

WITH FACTS AND INFORMATION

Gun DNA and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. connection

This is part of an article: Ballistic 'fingerprint' database isn't foolproof tool, experts say

System unable to account for stolen firearms, wear

CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE ARTICLE

"Bullets are made from a variety of metals, including lead, copper and steel. Many leave plating, or metal residue, in the gun barrels as they pass through. Sometimes this can cause slight changes inside the barrel, which over time changes the markings on the bullets that are fired, Robinson said. "You have wear, use and abuse. When you fire a gun you're rubbing two metals together over high pressure and over high heat, and that's going to change things," he said.

Robinson was part of a team of ballistics experts that in 1997 analyzed the Remington 30.06 rifle that police believe was used in the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Despite 18 test firings and use of high-powered microscopes, the team could not match the rifle with the bullet that killed King, Robinson said. The 18 test bullets each had different types of markings. "Every test bullet was different because it was going over plating created by the previous bullet," he said.

Robinson and others also pointed out that even when a gun can be tracked, it may not identify a suspect because it could have been stolen from the original owner."

FROM FOX NEWS: How Reliable Is Ballistic Fingerprinting?

Friday, October 18, 2002 By Steven Milloy

The sniper spree in the Washington, D.C., area has spawned calls for "ballistic fingerprinting" of firearms. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., announced he would introduce legislation for a national program. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence told The Washington Post that ballistic fingerprinting would have "solved this crime after the first shooting." But an October 2001 report by California state ballistics experts -- hushed up by the California attorney general's office -- concludes that ballistic fingerprinting isn't feasible right now.

Ballistic fingerprinting involves sending a fired bullet and empty cartridge casing from a gun to a government agency before that gun can be sold. The idea is to match -- preferably by automated computer analysis -- pre-sale ballistics data with crime scene data. Maryland and New York already require ballistic fingerprinting. So far it hasn't helped convict a single criminal in Maryland despite "fingerprinting" 17,000 guns sold since January 2000. New York hasn't had success either. And there isn't likely to be success any time soon, according to the study.

The report included the test firing of more than 2,000 rounds from 790 pistols. When cartridges from the same manufacturer were test-fired and compared, computer matching failed 38 percent of the time. With cartridges from different manufacturers, computer matching failed 62 percent of the time. "Automated computer matching systems do not provide conclusive results" requiring that "potential candidates be manually reviewed," said the experts. But the experts estimated a California database would grow by about 108,000 entries every year for pistols alone. "This study indicates that this number of candidate cases will be so large as to be impractical and will likely create logistic complications so great that they cannot be effectively addressed," they said. The test-firing results only scratch the surface of ballistic fingerprinting's problems.

The experts concluded it's unknown whether cartridges fired after typical firearm break-in and wear can at all be matched to the cartridge fired when the gun was new. "Firearms that generate markings on cartridge casings can change with use and can also be readily altered by the users," said the experts. "They are not permanently defined like fingerprints or DNA." A file may be used to make scratch marks in a barrel or a breech face, and various parts may be replaced to give a firearm a completely new ballistic identity. Bullets may be treated to alter the machining marks in a barrel. Not all guns even generate markings on cartridge casings. Further, "fired cartridge casings are much easier to correlate than fired bullets," noted the experts. Because bullets are severely damaged on impact, they can only be examined manually. Moreover, Americans already own more than 200 million guns; those won't be included in any ballistics database.

Hiding behind the sniper shootings and calling for ballistic fingerprinting -- is the gun control lobby. "The [sniper] shootings are a perfect example of how valuable complete ballistic fingerprinting would be," said a spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. "Doesn't it make sense for us to give law enforcement the tools they need in order to solve such crimes?" asked Sarah Brady of the Brady Campaign.

Perhaps -- if ballistic fingerprinting worked. What gun control advocates really want is the proven result of ballistic fingerprinting -- reduced gun sales. The Maryland law reduced 2001 handgun sales to their lowest level in 10 years. Handgun sales have continued to drop in 2002, according to the Maryland State Police. Gun control advocates are fogging debate by claiming a July 2001 report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found computerized ballistic fingerprints currently available to federal law enforcement officials produced 8,800 ballistics matches with 17,600 crime scenes during 2000-2001. But the ATF report only involved standard matching of crime scene evidence with post-crime ballistic testing. This is quite different from comparing crime scene with pre-sale ballistics.

Shockingly, the California experts were silenced by California's pro-gun control Attorney General Bill Lockyer. One panel member said he was gagged by the AG's office, not only about the study, but about the entire topic. The AG's office acknowledged in an interview it favored a ballistics fingerprinting system and denigrated its study as "preliminary" pending a review by a lone European expert. No explanation was offered for not having FBI, ATF or other U.S. ballistic experts review the report. The Bush administration has opposed ballistics fingerprinting on a national level, but this week committed to more study of the idea -- the same sensible recommendation made by the California experts. As it stands now, ballistic fingerprinting only promotes the agenda of gun control activists, not the agenda more in the public interest, that of law enforcement.

Steven Milloy is the publisher of JunkScience.com , an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and the author of Junk Science Judo: Self-defense Against Health Scares and Scams (Cato Institute, 2001).

Gun 'Fingerprinting' Debated

Experts: weapons can be altered

By Robert Cooke, STAFF WRITER, October 22, 2002

Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.

The following is a quote from the person who's website that Newsday sites as a source for their article. Too bad they did not talk to him. I've tried to remain out of the Gun DNA debate but I can tell you it won't work. Not only do the guns change over time they can be intentionally altered. A large number of guns used in crime are stolen so what good would having it's ballistic data on file do? It will cost a Billion dollars and in 10 years they will abandon it. Shoot, we don't have the manpower now to work the cases we have! Firearms labs all over the US run months behind (I'm 10 months behind now). Making sure you have the right standards entered for the right gun will also be a problem. I know for a fact that one of the major gun manufacturers is sending out guns with the two required standards, that when checked, don't match the gun. Automation may cut down on the error rate but I personally don't want a swat team storming my house because someone entered the wrong data into the computer! He added in a follow up e-mail:

... No one from that website wrote or called for permission to use my material.

The idea of tracing guns back to the people who use them is as elusive as it is enticing. One idea under discussion is to make guns traceable via "fingerprinting," testing every gun before it leaves the manufacturer for the unique marks it leaves on bullets and casings. Prominent supporters of such a nationwide "ballistic fingerprint" system include the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Million Mom March. But forensics experts warn that devising such a system, even though it seems logical, is likely to be unreliable. That's because guns can be easily altered. And, of course, millions of unsampled guns are already in people's hands.

To change the kinds of marks a firing pin and a breach block make on a brass cartridge, for example, only simple tools and little skill are needed. Also, the gun's barrel can be rebored, honed or simply allowed to rust, and the marks it leaves on a bullet change. Firearms analysis now in use involves, in addition to the weapon's caliber, examining the cartridge size and powder load, the number of grooves and lands in what's known as the rifling of the barrel, even the direction of the rifling. This is useful because each brand of gun has its own characteristics. Beyond that, each individual gun leaves its own unique "signature" on the ammunition it uses.

The term "rifling" refers to the spiral pattern of grooves lining the inside of the barrel, which impart a spinning motion on the bullet to keep it stable in flight. When a gun is fired, this grooved rifling tends to cut scratch marks in the bullet, said Walter Rowe, professor of forensic science at George Washington University in Washington. And because the bore of each gun barrel has slight imperfections, bullets fired from the same gun bear the same striations. But, a barrel can be regrooved, or get rusty, changing the marks cut into the bullet. Steel-encased or armor-piercing bullets also show far less visible marks because of their hardness, compared with lead bullets. Gun parts such as firing pins and breach blocks, or bolts, are usually hand-finished, so each can leave slightly different markings on the shell casing. But this, too, can be altered with common tools. Shell extractor and ejection mechanisms also can leave identifying scratch-like marks on the shell casing.

Expanding the forensic tool kit with firearms fingerprinting is certain to be costly, said Greg MacAleese, a former policeman and now president of Law Enforcement Technologies Inc. in Colorado. "There are problems with how much it's going to cost to develop and implement" such a complex system, he said. But he does expect progress. Rowe argues that for now fingerprinting "is a half-baked idea." "There are too many ways to compromise such a system and render it ineffective," said Rowe, a chemist. "It doesn't require a lot of work or a lot of skill" to subvert a system that might identify guns and ammunition.

Many police departments are already participating in a system designed to spot guns used in multiple crimes. In a cooperative arrangement between the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and numerous local police departments, a project called NIBIN is already using some of the "ballistic fingerprinting" techniques, such as the marks found on bullets. NIBIN, for National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, involves computerized sharing of crime data on guns and ammunition. It allows law enforcement agencies to link crimes, and sometimes collar suspects. For example, images of bullets recovered from different crime scenes can be compared in the national computer system. Or a gun recovered from a crime scene can be fired, its slug and cartridge recovered, and compared to thousands of other images in the system. The NIBIN system has enabled law enforcement agencies to discover links, for example, when the same gun has been used in multiple crimes, even in different states.

The idea of "marking" black and smokeless powder chemically also has been explored, and essentially discarded. Too many bullets are made each year, powder is often sold in bulk and distributed among hobbyists, and chemical marking can adversely change the properties of gunpowder.

Bullets Tell the Story, Sometimes

No two guns, even of the same make and model, will leave identical marks on fired rounds due to nuances of manufacturing, use and abuse. Though police can track down a gun by examining its "fingerprints" on bullets and casings found at crime scenes and in ballistic databases, experienced criminals can still thwart the system. Here's an explainer of firearm fingerprinting's promises and failures.

ON THE CASING

What Cops Look For:

Striations: As a spent round ejects from the gun, distinctive scratches are etched into the casing.

Firing pin imprint: When the gun's firing pin strikes the round's detonator cap, it leaves an indentation. The size, shape and depth of the indentation can reveal much about the gun.

What Criminals Do:

Remove casings from scene

File down or replace firing pin to change imprint left on round.

ON THE BULLET

What Cops Look For:

Rifling pattern: When a gun is fired, spiraling grooves in the barrel cause the moving bullet to spin, which helps it fly farther and straighter. These grooves, called rifling, also scar the bullet with unique marks that can be matched with the gun.

What Criminals Do:

Rebore or shorten gun barrel to change rifling. Use bullets of harder metal, which resist rifling marks.

SOURCE: firearmsID.com; staff reporting

NY ballistic database firing blanks?

By MICHAEL HILL

Associated Press Writer

June 3, 2004, 3:26 PM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. -- A database designed to match handguns in New York state to crime scene evidence has not solved a crime more than three years after its debut.

Pataki administration officials cite difficulties local police can face in getting crime scene evidence to Albany, where the database is housed. But state officials say they are close to solving the problem through a deal that would allow inquiries made around New York to piggyback on a federal ballistic network.

Since March 2001, identifying information about each new pistol and revolver sold in New York has been entered into the Combined Ballistic Identification System database. Under the system, called CoBIS for short, new guns are fired, casings are collected and the minute markings are cataloged by a computer.

Law enforcement officials say the unique markings are like gun "fingerprints" and that bullet casings recovered from crime scenes can potentially be matched with the more than 53,000 guns entered into New York's database.

New York and Maryland are the only states operating such databases. Federal law enforcement officials run a different sort of database containing information on guns used in crimes, as opposed to new guns.

The federal National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, called NIBIN, has been credited with thousands of "hits," many of them yielding investigative information. Maryland's database, five months older than New York's, has posted six hits based on more than 160 queries, according to Maryland state police.

New York's database has produced no hits from 203 queries.

Proponents of ballistic databases say New York's system is still relatively young and that it could take years before new, legally purchased guns are used in crimes.

New York criminal justice officials said there is a logistical hurdle, too. Since the CoBIS station is at state police headquarters in Albany, investigators in cities like Buffalo or Watertown must transport crime scene casings to Albany for testing.

State officials hope to make their system more accessible by using the eight federal NIBIN stations around New York as entry points for evidence. But federal regulations bar information on new guns from being entered into that system _ rules attributed to the influence of gun advocates concerned over central registries.

Pataki administration officials say they reached a deal with federal officials that would allow crime scene information to be transmitted one-way to the NIBIN station at state police headquarters in Albany. It would then pass through a firewall to the state-run system, where the actual matching would be done.

ATF spokeswoman Sheree Mixell said there is no final agreement yet. But she said talks were continuing with law enforcement officials in New York to assist them in a way that does not violate the law.

Jessica Scaperotti, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, said the Pataki administration is confident that the federal partnership will help realize the "tremendous potential" of CoBIS.

"Gun fingerprinting has the power to provide powerful evidence that can solve crimes," she said.

While the administration expects the arrangement to result in new investigative leads, it's not likely to dampen the long-running dispute over ballistic databases. In New York, a recently filed lawsuit challenging the $1.5 million-a-year system alleges that it violates the privacy of gun owners. Others have questioned whether the databases in New York and Maryland will ever be effective.

Walter Rowe, a professor of forensic science at George Washington University, said there are too many ways to get around New York's database. Criminals can buy guns in neighboring states or simply take a file to the gun's breech face, essentially changing the gun's unique "signature."

"If one does a cost benefit analysis, this might not have been a wise way to spend public money," Rowe said.

Eric Gorovitz of The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence disputed the contention that criminals can easily foil the database with a file given the wide array of markings the computer looks at.

"Even if they did succeed in doing it once in a while, it's still a tool you don't otherwise have," Gorovitz said. "Nobody says, 'People wear gloves. We shouldn't a have a fingerprint database,' It's a preposterous suggestion."

Gorovitz believes a major problem with ballistic databases is that only New York and Maryland have one. They need to be more widespread to be effective, he said.

Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press

$4,000,000 YEARLY BUDGET /12 = $333,333.33 A MONTH

(These numbers are based on numbers provide by members of the NY Senate.

NY DCJS has provided a totally different set of numbers.

See above"WHAT DOES THE NY CoBIS PROGRAM COST?"

CoBIS program started March 1, 2001 DATE # OF GUNS CHANGE # OF GUNS CONNECTED TO A CRIME 4/1/2002 18,000 +/- 18,000 0 10/1/2002 30,000 + 12,000 0 2/1/2003 35,000 +/- 5,000 0 10/1/2003 49,931 14,931 0 11/1/2003 54,942 5,011 0 12/1/2003 57,006 2,064 0

2004

DATE # OF GUNS CHANGE MONEY SPENT # OF CoBIS "Hits" 1/1/04 58,291 1,285 $11,666,667 +? 0 2/1/04 59,795 1,504 $12,000,000+? 0 3/1/04 61,418 1,623 $12,333,333 +? 0 4/1/04 63,351 1,933 $ 12,666,666 +? 0 5/1/04 65,902 2,551 $13,000,000 +? Case #1 *6/1/04 68,691 2,789 $13,333,333 +? 1 7/1/004 73,044 4,353 $13,666,666 +? 1 8/1/004 75,293 2,249 $14,000,000 +? 1 9/1/04 77,194 1,901 $14,333,333 +? 1 10/1/04 79,382 2,188 $14,666,666 +? 1 11/1/004 81,964 2.582 $15,000,000 +? 1 12/1/004 84,207 2,243 $15,333,333 +? 1 2004 24,622

TOTAL 2,502

AVE Totals were adjusted in 2008 * (Only 53,801 of the total are actually imaged and in the computer system.)

2005

DATE # OF GUNS CHANGE MONEY SPENT # OF CoBIS "Hits" 1/1/05 85,936 1,729 $15,666,666 +? 1 2/1/05 88,662 2,726 $16,000,000 +? 1 3/1/05 90,454 1,792 $16,333,333 +? 1 4/1/05 92,551 2,097 $ 16,666,666 +? 1 5/1/05 94,998 2,447 $17,000,000 +? 1 6/1/05 98,871 3,873 $17,333,333 +? 1 7/1/005 101,839 2,968 $17,666,666 +? 1 8/1/005 104,340 2,501 $18,000,000 +? 1 9/1/05 106,245 1,905 $18,333,333 +? 1 10/1/05 109,214 2,969 $18,666,666 +? 1 11/1/005 111,267 2,053 $19,000,000 +? 1 12/1/05 113,018 1,751 $19,333,333 +? 1 2005 28,811

TOTAL 2,401

` AVE $1.5 MILLION TO

$4.0 MILLION Case #2, 2

2006

DATE # OF GUNS CHANGE MONEY SPENT # OF CoBIS "Hits" 1/1/06 114,763 1,745 $19,666,666 +? 2 2/1/06 117,066 2,303 $20,000,000 +? 2 3/1/06 119,196 2,130 $20,333,333 +? 2 4/1/06 121,853** 2,657 $20 ,666,666 +? 2 5/1/06 125,331 3,478 $21 ,000,000 +? 2 6/1/06 127084 1,753 $21,333,333 +? 2 7/1/06 129,466 2,382 $21,666,666 +? 2 8/1/06 132,745 3,279 $22,000,000 +? 2 9/1/06 135,991 3,246 $22,333,333 +? 2 10/1/06 137,936 1,945 $22,666,666 +? 2 11/1/06 140,360 2,424 $23,000,000 +? 2 12/1/06 141,937 1,577 $23,333,333 +? 2 2006 28,919

TOTAL 2,410

AVERAGE $1.5 MILLION TO

$4.0 MILLION ** 5 year anniversary of the program, 20,973 guns of the total were test fired by NYSP. An average of 2,030 new guns a month in the 60 months of the program.

2007

DATE # OF GUNS CHANGE MONEY SPENT # OF CoBIS "Hits" 1/1/07 143,816 1,879 $23,666,666 +? 2 2/1/07 144,892 1,076 $24,000,000 +? 2 3/1/07** 146,598 1,706 $24,333,333 +? 2 4/1/07 149,296 2,698 $24,666,666 +? 2 5/1/07 151,187 1,891 $25,000,000 +? 2 6/1/07 154,001 2,814 $25,333,333 +? 2 7/1/07 158,364 4,363 $25,666,666 +? 2 8/1/07 160,064 1,700 $26,000,000 +? 2 9/1/07 162,252 2,188 $26,333,333 +? 2 10/1/07 165,556 3,304 $26,666,666 +? 2 11/1/07 168,849 3,293 $27,000,000 +? 2 12/1/07 170,765 1,916 $27,333,333 +? 2 2007 28,828

TOTAL 2,402

AVERAGE ** 6 year anniversary of the program.

2008

DATE # OF GUNS CHANGE MONEY SPENT # OF CoBIS "Hits" 1/1/08 174,629 3,864 $27,666,666 2 2/1/08 182,535* 7,906 $28,000,000 2 3/1/08** 189,383* 6,848 $28,333,333 2 4/1/08 194,629 5,246 $28,666,666 2 5/1/08 198,381 3,752 $29,000,000 2 6/1/08 203,686 5,305 $29,333,333 2 7/1/08 206,524 2,838 $29,666,666 2 8/1/08 209,239 2,715 $30,000,000 2 9/1/08 212,080 2,841 $30,333,333 2 10/1/08 215,349 3,269 $30,666,666 2 11/1/08 217,874 2,252 $31,000,000 2 12/1/08 220,407 2,533 $31,333,333 2 2008 49,369

TOTAL 4,114

AVERAGE ** 7 year anniversary of the program. * A backlog and large police purchases resulted in increased numbers for these months.

2009

DATE # OF GUNS CHANGE MONEY SPENT # OF CoBIS "Hits" 1/1/09 223,291 2,884 $31,666,666 +? 2 2/1/09 226,211 2,920 $32,000,000 +? 2 3/1/09** 230,091 3,880 $32,333,333 +? 2 4/1/09 233,379 3,288 $32,666,666 +? 2 5/1/09 236,548 3,169 $33,000,000 +? 2 6/1/09 239,401 2,853 $33,333,333 +? 2 7/1/09 242,987 3,586 $33,666,666 +? 2 8/1/09 246,287 3,300 $34,000,000 +? 2 9/1/09 248,901 2,614 $34,333,333 +? 2 10/1/09 251,745 2,844 $34,666,666 +? 2 11/1/09 255,184 3,439 $35,000,000 +? 2 12/1/09 258,700 3,516 $35,333,333 +? 2 200 38,293

TOTAL 3,191

AVERAGE ** 8 year anniversary of the program.

2010

DATE # OF GUNS CHANGE MONEY SPENT # OF CoBIS "Hits" 1/1/10 262,450 3,750 $36,666,666 +? 2 2/1/10 265,645 3,195 $37,000,000 +? 2 3/1/10** 270,738 5,093 $37,333,333 +? 2 4/1/10 274,751 4,013 $37,666,666 +? 2 5/1/10 278,348 3,597 $38,000,000 +? 2 6/1/10 281,882 3,534 $38,333,333 +? 2 7/1/10 285,353 3,471 $38,666,666 +? 2 8/1/10 290,090 4,737 $39,000,000 +? 2 9/1/10 293, 198 3,108 $39,333,333 +? 2 10/1/10 297,394 4,196 $39,666,666 +? 2 11/1/10 300,605 3,211 $40,000,000 +? 2 12/1/10 303,441 2,836 $40,333,333 +? 2 2010 44,741

TOTAL 3,728

AVERAGE MANHOURS WASTED

201,028 TO 301,542 # ** 9 year anniversary of the program. # Baised on 10 to 15 people working on the program.

2011

DATE # OF GUNS CHANGE MONEY SPENT Man-Hours Wasted based on 10 to 15 people. "Hits" 1/1/11 306,555 3,114 $40,666,666 +? 2 2/1/11 311,859 5,304 $41,000,000 +? 2 3/1/11** 317,882 6,023 $41,333,333 +? 2 4/1/11 322,523 4,641 $41,666,666 +? 2 5/1/11 328,030 5,507 $42,000,000 +? 2 6/1/11 331,048 3,018 $42,333,333 +? 2 7/1/11 334,881 3,833 $ 42 ,666,666 +? 2 8/1/11 338,177 3,296 $ 43 ,000,000 +? 2 9/1/11 340974 2,797 $ 43 ,333,333 +? 2 10/1/11 344,727 3,753 $ 43 ,666,666 +? 218,361 to 327,542 2 11/1/11 351,660 6,933 $44,000,000 +? 220,095 to 330,142 2 12/1/11 356,631 4,971 $44,333,333 +? 221,828 to 332,742 2 2011 53,190

TOTAL 4,433

AVERAGE ** 10 year anniversary of the program. # Baised on 10 to 15 people working on the program.

2012