I realize that there are now some states that require the manufacturer to keep a spent shell casing for "fingerprinting".

Since many manufacturers test fire their weapons prior to shipment, are there any that provide a case with every gun, no matter which state it goes to?

BTW, what are the procedures in these states?
Does the manufacturer provide the casing?
The importer? distributor? dealer?

This whole procedure seems a bit scary to me.
What's next, the government wanting the combo to your safe before you can take possession of it?  A copy of your house, car keys?

Big brother at its worst!

Ballistic fingerprinting seems useless.

If I buy a weapon that has a "ballistic fingerprint" taken, can't I just buy a new barrel? Wouldn't that effectively render the fingerprint useless?

Av.

Avalon01: yep, LE coldnt positivly match it. Could even change extractors to boot.

Quoted: I realize that there are now some states that require the manufacturer to keep a spent shell casing for "fingerprinting". Since many manufacturers test fire their weapons prior to shipment, are there any that provide a case with every gun, no matter which state it goes to? BTW, what are the procedures in these states? Does the manufacturer provide the casing? The importer? distributor? dealer? This whole procedure seems a bit scary to me. What's next, the government wanting the combo to your safe before you can take possession of it?  A copy of your house, car keys? Big brother at its worst!

Yes, I've sold handguns from several mfgrs that had a spent casing included in the box. Of course here in TN we have no such law as our politicians understand the common sense portion of owning firearms.

Anyway, as I understand it, the envelope containing the casing is stapled to the Form 4473 that the customer fills out. Now we all know of course that that envelope won't hold forever & a FFL holder keeps all of his 4473s until he goes out of business. Imagine how many mis-matched envelopes there'll be after a period of just a few short years? And the really STOOPID thing is that it'll allow some possibly guilty thugs to go free because they can prove that lack of control over the chain of evidence. Oh well.

In order to be completely safe, you would have to change the entire slide, not just the barrel and extractor.  The extractor, ejector, firing pin, and the breechface (slide face) all leave marks on the casing that could be distinctive enough for a forensics expert to match them to your gun.

Quoted: In order to be completely safe, you would have to change the entire slide, not just the barrel and extractor.  The extractor, ejector, firing pin, and the breechface (slide face) all leave marks on the casing that could be distinctive enough for a forensics expert to match them to your gun.

I think the point is that if someone is determined to not connect their gun with a firearm in any way... it can be easily accomplished. Therefore the exercise is a waste and stupid.

In Maryland the casing is not maintained by the FFL.  It is mailed to the State Police to be stored in their files, along with registration data, after the handgun is sold.  Seems manageable, unless everybody replaces the firing pin, extractor, and ejector when they buy the weapon.  

Replacing the barrel doesn't accomplish anything because the casing is sent not the bullet.




"Do what you will,
just don't think laws have anything to do with sense."