Handgun casing fingerprinting in Maryland

D

dZ

New member
http://mlis.state.md.us/2000rs/bills/sb/sb0211t.rtf

1 AN ACT concerning
<snip>
11 providing for a certain procedure for collecting certain
12 handgun shell casing information; requiring certain individuals to provide
13 certain handgun shell casing information to the State for
14 certain testing;
<snip>
1 442B.

2 (A) (1) IN THIS SECTION THE FOLLOWING WORDS HAVE THE MEANINGS
3 INDICATED.

4 (2) "MANUFACTURER" MEANS ANY PERSON WHO POSSESSES A VALID
5 FEDERAL LICENSE ISSUED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY THAT PERMITS
6 THAT PERSON TO ENGAGE IN THE BUSINESS OF MANUFACTURING FIREARMS OR
7 AMMUNITION FOR THE PURPOSE OF SALE OR DISTRIBUTION.

8 (3) "PROJECTILE" MEANS THAT PART OF HANDGUN AMMUNITION THAT
9 IS, BY MEANS OF AN EXPLOSION, EXPELLED THROUGH THE BARREL OF THE
10 HANDGUN.

11 (4) "SHELL CASING" MEANS THAT PART OF HANDGUN AMMUNITION
12 THAT CONTAINS THE PRIMER AND PROPELLENT POWDER TO DISCHARGE THE
13 PROJECTILE.

14 (B) ANY MANUFACTURER THAT SHIPS OR TRANSPORTS A HANDGUN TO BE
15 SOLD, RENTED, OR TRANSFERRED IN THE STATE SHALL INCLUDE IN THE BOX WITH
16 THE HANDGUN IN A SEPARATE SEALED CONTAINER:

17 (1)

18 A SHELL CASING OF A PROJECTILE DISCHARGED FROM THAT
19 HANDGUN; AND

20 (2) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION THAT IDENTIFIES THE TYPE
21 AND SHELL CASING AS REQUIRED BY THE
22 SECRETARY TO MEET THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION.

23 (C) UPON RECEIPT OF A HANDGUN FROM THE MANUFACTURER, THE DEALER
24 SHALL CONFIRM TO THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE POLICE THAT THE
25 MANUFACTURER COMPLIED WITH THE PROVISIONS OF SUBSECTION (B).

26 (D) UPON THE SALE OR TRANSFER OF THE HANDGUN, THE DEALER SHALL
27 FORWARD THE SEALED CONTAINER TO THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE POLICE CRIME
28 LABORATORY.

29 (E) UPON RECEIPT OF THE SHELL CASING AND
30 REQUIRED INFORMATION, THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE POLICE CRIME LABORATORY
31 SHALL ENTER THE INFORMATION IN ALL PERTINENT DATABASES.

32 (F) THE SECRETARY SHALL PROMULGATE REGULATIONS TO CARRY OUT THE
33 PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION.
<snip>
9 SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect
10 October 1, 2000.
 
The New York Times

September 29, 2000

Md 1st To Adopt Bullet ID System

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Beginning on Sunday, with every new handgun sold in Maryland, the manufacturer will have to give
state police a spent shell casing carrying the weapon's ballistic fingerprint.

Under the law -- the first of its kind in the nation -- the unique markings on the casing will then be entered into a database.
When detectives find a bullet casing at a crime scene, they can go to the computer and instantly identify the gun it came from.

``Countless hours of investigative work can now be eliminated from the process of identifying the crime gun and who may have
been in possession of it,'' State Police Superintendent David Mitchell said.

A similar New York state law takes effect March 1.

Five months after the Maryland law was signed, questions remain about its effectiveness.

There are no criminal penalties for noncompliance by manufacturers, and state police have told dealers they can continue
selling guns even if manufacturers do not pack shell casings with the weapons.

State Police spokesman Maj. Greg Shipley said manufacturers have been told it is their responsibility to make sure guns sold in
Maryland are accompanied by a casing.

Gun owner Jim Purtillo of Silver Spring questioned the value of the law. ``It's about making it harder for people to buy guns,''
he said. ``Bad guys typically don't leave shell casings from a revolver at a crime scene.''

The National Rifle Association did not return several calls for comment.

Maryland gun dealers have worried that manufacturers or distributors may stop shipping guns into the state. But at least two
major manufacturers are making efforts to comply: Smith Wesson, the nation's largest maker of handguns, and Beretta USA.

Beretta USA said it will pack shell casings with handguns it knows will be sold in Maryland, but warned that its distributors are
scattered throughout the country and guns sent elsewhere could wind up back here.

``If we get an order from Florida, we don't have any way of knowing that gun is going to Maryland. It will not include the shell
casing,'' Beretta spokesman Jeff Reh said.

Neither company could say whether its gun prices will increase as a result.

Sanford Abrams, vice president of the Maryland Licensed Gun Dealers Association, said the ballistics fingerprints may have little
legal value because a shell casing will travel through so many hands from the manufacturer to state police.

``The chain of custody stinks,'' he said.

Abrams also questioned whether ballistic fingerprints will have any practical value because the markings left on shell casings by
firing pins change after repeated firings.

The requirement is part of sweeping new gun legislation in Maryland. Sunday also is the effective date for laws prohibiting
handguns from being sold without an external trigger lock and barring anyone under 30 with a juvenile record for violent crimes
from buying a handgun.

Beginning in 2002, Maryland residents also will have to complete a state-approved gun safety course before buying a weapon,
and the following year, all handguns sold will have to be equipped with built-in locks.
 
If you live in MD get out your emory cloth a little steel wool and a needle file and spend two minutes with every new gun you buy. That should take care of that.

------------------
Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club
68-70
true story, a Union Gen. once said "Don't worry about those Rebs. They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..SPLAT.
 
and once they "discover" the flaws in their language, they will need to revise the law on the books.

Welcome to micro etched registration serial numbers in the chamber

:(

dZ
 
Make sure to pick up ALL your brass at the range. It would be real easy to drop a few random cases of the same caliber at a crime scene. Oh wait I forgot, criminals would never do something like that. They always follow all the rules and would never try to mislead an investigation :rolleyes:

Greg
 
Hmmm...if one were to pick up fired cases at the range, fired from MANY different guns, and start scattering them around the city...and if MANY people started doing this...
 
What if your handgun is a Cap & Ball pistol????? How would you provide the "shell casing"???? :)

------------------
Dead [Black Ops]
 
That's easy, dead. Whenever you want to go shooting, just stop by the police station & check out your cylinder - and your LEO escort.

Can't have a citizen walking around with an untraceable bullet, now can we?
 
Hence the beautiful thing about revolvers...they leave no brass as evidence unless you are an undisciplined shooter...My revolvers are really looking more appealing these days... :)
 
If I were a criminal, I'd use a .38 revolver and drop 9mm empties all over the place. And .38 Supers, and .380 Autos and 9mm Largos... well, you get the picture.

------------------
Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club
68-70
true story, a Union Gen. once said "Don't worry about those Rebs. They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..SPLAT.
 
I started this topic in the handgun forum before it got moved. You want to know whats messed up with the Maryland government. Down south in the bigger cities like Baltimore and Annapolis there is widespread crime with guns. But where i live, up north, its a quiet rural area with iscolated incidents of handgun crimes. Of course since a couple of hoodlums down south cant follow the rules the whole state of Maryland is punished which includes myself. Heres one word of advice, dont vote for Democrats, there all a bunch of Communists that try to run everybody. Im pretty sure that all states have a good and a bad area but the whole state isnt punished for a couple jackasses. People dont realize whats going on in Maryland, if the federal government took the same actions as our state government handguns would only be a step or two away from being completely illegal.
peace out deadaim
 
Stupidity on display. But then again, the anti-2's did not write this law based on stupidity. It was written to test the concept before going nationwide. Anyone spending more than 10 minutes with gunners knows this concept is destined to fail and the anti-2's know it.

The database is set up. Manufacturers are primed to send along test casings. Whaddaya wanna bet that six months from now someone will say, "Hey, it is too easy to change the casing markings by 1) changing the barrel, 2) change the firing pin, 3) remark the barrel or firing pin, 4) drop brass, or 5) not use a registered gun during a crime (self-evident). We gotta do something."

Next step is to change spare parts for handguns to controlled components and set up the paperwork to track components just like guns. Since a gunsmith can really make changes, you obviously have to certify and license gunsmiths. Now they have the excuse to put the dead hand of bureaucracy over the entire firearms industry. Looking for a model? Look at the aviation industry.

All of us know the MD experiment will fail and fail in a really public manner. So has Brady, and its still out there. Brady is shown to accomplish nothing that it was proposed to accomplish. But is successful in harassing law abiding citizens engaging in a constitutionally protected activity.



------------------
Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Barry Goldwater--1964
 
Maryland Trigger Lock Law Kicks In

By Daniel LeDuc
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday , October 1, 2000 ; C01

Beginning today, all handguns sold in Maryland will have to be sold with a trigger lock as Gov. Parris N. Glendening's controversial gun control law takes effect
statewide.

The locks are the first step toward a requirement that new handguns sold in the state be equipped with built-in locks. That requirement will take effect Jan. 1, 2002.

Also today, gun manufacturers must begin supplying shell casings from new handguns to the Maryland State Police, which is creating a database of shells'
"fingerprints," which will be used to match guns used in crimes to their owners.

The gun law is among dozens of laws--including measures governing electronic commerce, cable television late fees and legislative lobbying--that take effect today
after passage by the General Assembly during this year's legislative session.

"Starting Sunday, fewer children in Maryland will be the victims of accidental shootings," said Sen. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. (D-Montgomery), who was one of the
gun proposal's chief sponsors.

He acknowledged that the new law is not a panacea but insisted that it would reduce gun violence.

"Ultimately, the responsibility still lies with the gun owner," he said. "This makes it easier for a gun owner to be responsible and takes away any excuse to be
irresponsible."

The law also requires a five-year prison sentence for people previously convicted of a violent crime who are caught illegally possessing a firearm, and it prohibits
anyone convicted of a violent crime or felony while a juvenile from possessing a handgun until age 30. And, beginning Jan. 1, the law will require someone who wants
to buy a handgun to undergo two hours of firearms safety training.

Gun rights advocates say the law will have no practical effect in Maryland. Nearly all gun manufacturers already supply trigger locks with their firearms, said Sanford
Abrams, who is vice president of the Maryland Licensed Firearms Dealers Association and an operator of a Baltimore County gun shop. All that is being added, he
said, is that gun dealers must supply gun locks with the used handguns they sell.

He also said that the shell casings provided to the state police probably will provide little help to investigators, because the markings on shells change over time as a
gun is fired and because there will be difficulty using the casings as evidence in court since so many people will have handled them before their arriving at the state
police lab. Defense lawyers will have an easy time casting doubt on whether the casings actually came from the guns involved in investigations, he said.

The ultimate goal of the gun law sponsors is to ban ownership of handguns, Abrams said.

"If they can't ban them, they want to make it as difficult and expensive as they can to prevent you from buying a gun," he said. But it's backfiring, he added. "My sales
have gone through the roof compared to last year because of the fear of this law."

Also today, Maryland becomes the first state where an electronic commerce law takes effect. Lobbied for by computer giants such as Microsoft Corp., the Uniform
Computer Information Transactions Act allows companies to reach into customers' computers and "repossess" a product if they fall behind on payments. And the law
permits companies to send legal notices about new restrictions by e-mail without proof that the e-mail has reached its destination.

With Internet commerce expanding, software manufacturers have pushed legislatures throughout the nation to pass laws making legally binding the terms the
companies set on the use of their products, even though most consumers would not know what those conditions are until after they had spent their money and read the
fine print.

Another law taking effect today allows cable television companies and other businesses to charge customers late fees. The law essentially overturns a recent state Court
of Appeals decision limiting those fees. Now, businesses may charge up to 10 percent of a bill or $5, whichever is greater, as a penalty for late payment.

Also as of today, the governor, legislators and other top officials will have to disclose any business transactions valued at more than $1,000 that they have with
registered lobbyists in the state. Legislators balked at a proposal to ban such deals.

© 2000 The Washington Post Company http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52916-2000Sep30.html
 
I dropped coin on a pair of Cimarron Ps in 45 Colt (consecutive #s, natch... as I told the lady standing next to me, "Doesn't everybody buy them in pairs?" :^) on Saturday, simply because I didn't want to give the sumnabeeches the satisfaction (much less my brass).

<sigh> Texas is soooo far away... :(


------------------
The value of my life, my Rights, and those of my family are incalculable;
your life and your Rights, should you choose to threaten mine, are worth exactly $1.79 --
delivered 230gr at a time.
 
To our LEO friends, I wonder how long before MD LEO's will admit / announce that this is a massive waste of manpower / resources, that could be spent better elsewhere?

Or, do we have any LEO's, etc. who feel that the brass law will have any positive effect on crime solving?

Thanks. Regards from AZ
 
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