Volume CXXXII, Number 6 October 25, 2002 f

Sniper case reveals need for gun control
JAMES BAUMBERGER
COLUMNIST

Each victim of the D.C. sniper will be one of over ten thousand Americans murdered this year with firearms.

Tragedies like Columbine and the recent sniper attacks are even harder to bear when we consider that these deaths might have been preventable. Why are so many killed in America, whereas in Great Britain less than one hundred firearm deaths occur per year? Great Britain has effective gun control. We do not.

It is hard to understand why the pro-gun lobby continually opposes opportunities to save lives by enacting further controls on the use of firearms.

Such was the case last week when the Bush administration indicated its reluctance to support proposals that would mandate nationwide ballistic fingerprinting.

Ballistic fingerprinting is the process of recording the unique markings each firearm leaves on a bullet or shell casing. This information can then be entered into a national database each time a gun is sold, linking those markings to the person who purchased the gun and where the gun was purchased.

This type of system actually exists now. It is used sporadically, yet successfully. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms has confirmed that the database, still in limited use, has helped solve "numerous" crimes.

Certainly a shift to a national system would be an even greater asset to law enforcement. It could help track down serial murderers. If such a nationwide system was currently in place, police would be able to link the D.C. sniper's shell casings to who bought the gun and where.

The database would work as a deterrent for would-be murders who might think twice before firing a shot that could be traced back to their gun.

Gun advocates argue that ballistic fingerprinting infringes on a gun owner's personal freedom. However, if car registration is not a problem, why should firearm registration be? Cars, like guns, can be used to commit and facilitate crime. They therefore should both be regulated. Law-abiding gun owners should have nothing to hide.

The system is not perfect. Sure it would have its flaws, but what could possibly be more flawed than our current system that stops short of preventing massive numbers of dead?

Ballistic fingerprinting has been proven both in study and in practice. We need to enact a fingerprinting database as a first step towards reducing gun deaths in America.

The Bush administration eventually backed off slightly. With the same "needs more study" cop out used to avoid a position on global warming, Bush neatly tucked the issue away. He knows that the strength of the National Rifle Association will prevent Congress from passing gun control legislation without his support.

Ten thousand gun murders a year and a serial sniper. What else needs to happen before common sense can prevail? I hope not another firearm disaster.