NEWTOWN, Conn. -- The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) today called on Congress to move quickly and enact legislation sponsored by U.S. Representative Melissa Hart (R-PA) in the House and U.S. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) in the Senate that mandates the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive study of ballistic imaging technology with the goal of determining its appropriate utilization as a law-enforcement tool. NSSF is the firearms industry trade association representing more than 2,200 businesses involved in all aspects of the hunting and shooting sports.
“I know it is very late in the congressional session, but I am calling on the House and Senate to bring up and pass H.R. 3491 and S. 2581, the Ballistic Imaging Evaluation and Study Act of 2002,” stated Doug Painter, president of NSSF. “This legislation will give everyone the scientific facts necessary to determine how ballistic imaging is best utilized in law enforcement. There is a lot of misinformation being circulated in the media and within policy circles that ballistic imaging is ‘DNA for guns,’ and this simply is not true. We need facts and that is what this study will give us.”
NSSF is supportive of the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) that is administered by of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF). This system analyzes spent bullet casings found at crime scenes to compare marks that could assist in ascertaining if a firearm has been used in multiple crimes. A study by the Bureau of Forensic Services at the California Department of Justice concluded that “automated computer matching [ballistic imaging] systems do not provide conclusive results.” Moreover the study revealed that attempting to increase the number of shell casings through mass sampling of firearms sold in the state would lead to a failure in the system. “The number of candidate cases would be so large as to be impractical and will likely create logistic complications so great that that they can not be effectively addressed,” forensic experts involved in the study wrote.
“NSSF shares the concerns highlighted in the California Department of Justice Report. Ballistic imaging is a new forensic technology, it is a tool and not the magic solution for solving firearms crimes as some would like us to believe,” stated Painter. “Our firearm manufacturers work closely with BATF to assist them in solving crimes committed with a firearm. The study outlined in the Ballistic Imaging Evaluation and Study Act will provide scientific conclusions to identified problems and assist in determining how best to utilize this technology and properly allocate vital law enforcement funding.”