jaguar75 said:Actually...Lumpy you are correct!!! The IBIS system will be the new finger printing system for guns...ultimately the government will pass a law that requires all manufacturers to log into the IBIS system the rifiling finger print and tag it to the serial number of that gun. It is another step in controlling weapons that I don't disagree with. Every manufacturer test fires the guns before being boxed for sale. The shortcomings of this are barrels are interchangeable, similar to changing the license plate of a get away car...kind of logic. And you know that when criminals start getting convicted because of this there will be a significant increase in the number of legal guns stolen.
The other thing that IBIS will do that I think is the real benefit of this system is when you pull a bullet and scan it and log it and in 6 months you pull a bullet from another crime and scan it the IBIS system searches its database of already scanned bullets and if they match you now know that that same weapon and possibly even the same person was involved in another crime.
It really is one more simple step. It will not take or cost much to perform this duty, however, I still feel that the government is heading in the wrong direction with gun control.
Sadly, folks, we're headed in the wrong direction with laws like this for two reasons:
1) Practical considerations - Those who propose such things are woefully ignorant of the realities of what they're proposing. It's like the Amish designing the Motor Vehicle Act. The paperwork involved in serial numbering the millions of bullets produced annually by a single large firms like Hornady, Speer, or about six others would make this economically unworkable, and force such companies out of business (the cynical amoung us might suggest that this is the actual purpose of such a law). Consider also that as a person in possession of several hundred pounds of scrap lead and a small melting pot, I am capable of manufacturing altogether servicible bullets in my garage. It seems unlikely that I'll make a point of assigning each a serial number, documenting that number, and sharing my "casting log" with the authorities. We should also consider that bullets lead a brief but exciting life, with much heat and agitation. Engraved serials on the bases of bullets seem unlikely to survive the use of the bullet. Engraving numbers elsewhere would disturb the carefully engineered balance of the bullet to the point where it'd be useless for its intended purpose.
2) Ethical considerations - I appreciate the toll that gun crime takes on society, and appreciate the controls that we, as a society, have placed on criminal misuse of firearms. We all live under laws that forbid shooting folks for no good reason, and I am very thankful we do. Laws apply restricitions to behaviour, and in doing so, place responsibility on individuals, which is where it ultimately lies. If I commit a crime with a firearm, I appear in court to face charges laid against me. The fiream has not commited a crime - nor can it, as it's as inherently capable of evil as your average motor verhicle. When laws are applied to devices in an effort to affect the behaviour of human beings, we miss the point utterly. Human beings are responsible to each other. Failures to take this responsibility seriously are punishable in civilized society. That's friggin' it. Passing poorly thought-out laws in an effort to establish some sort of control over inanimate objects is futile and directs money, creativity, and energy away from actual solutions.
In short, any law that directs responsibility away from human beings and toward inanimate objects is morally suspect.
That's just my thinkin' on the subject. Feel free to reply - I'd be happy to get other takes on the situation.
Dan
