FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 27, 2003

CONTACT: Jim Purtilo, 301 890 7122 (msg/fax)

MARYLAND STATE POLICE REPORT CONFIRMS:
BALLISTIC FINGERPRINTING IS EXPENSIVE FAILURE

With the delayed release of its report to legislature, MSP confirms
what critics of Maryland's unique ballistic fingerprinting law have
observed all along: the law is an expensive failure. After spending $2
million to establish the program, taxpayers now pick up the tab for
half a million dollars in annual operating expenses (going into its
fifth year.) Despite this outlay of nearly $5 million tax dollars,
police have yet to nab a criminal based on the program's use.

MSP's report describes only four matches made by their software - in
all cases, of guns they had already confiscated. The program's
ostensible goal was to suggest a lead to investigators who collect
shell cases taken as evidence from a crime scene. That has yet to
happen. Moreover, the only way they could get even four matches after
the fact was to have the gun already in their possession for extensive
testing.

Proponents enacted their mandate for ballistic fingerprinting with the
promise of "immediate impact", yet once its technical flaws became
known, officials started soft peddling expectations in order to
maintain funding. The report parrots Parris Glendening's spin, that
compares the program to MSP's state DNA database - another expensive
low-yield program - which "needs time to develop before it bears
fruit." This analogy ignores the fact that DNA evidence doesn't
change, whereas a firearm's signature on evidence changes with each
pull of the trigger.

By calling for research in order to buy time, MSP's report confirms
another point made by gun rights advocates: this law was enacted
without any scientific basis for believing it could work in the first
place. The law's only effect is to deny citizens high quality products
made by companies that don't survive in our state's predatory
regulatory environment.

The Ehrlich administration should fight to repeal this law in favor of
public safety programs that work. Taxpayers deserve the best bang for
our public safety buck.

Jim Purtilo is editor of the Tripwire newsletter.