Maryland State Police call for end to ballistic fingerprinting of handguns

According to an article by David Snyder in the Washington Post, Maryland State Police now think that mandatory ballistic fingerprinting of handguns is a $2,600,000 waste of crime-fighting resources and should be ended:

A Maryland law requiring state police to collect ballistics data on every handgun sold in the state is ineffective and expensive and should be repealed, according to a report by the Maryland State Police.

Police have gathered information from more than 43,000 guns since the law was adopted in 2000, but the data have not significantly aided a single criminal investigation, according to the report...

Leah Barrett, executive director of CeaseFire Maryland, a gun-control group, said it would be a "tragedy for the whole field of ballistics imaging" if Maryland's ballistics program were scrapped...

"You just need a bit of imagination, a bit of skill and a bit of competence in your state police, as well as a bit of political courage, and frankly we're lacking that here in Maryland," she said.

So, is it CeaseFire Maryland's official position that Marylanders are unimaginative cowards with incompetent police? How charming. This is sure to garner new converts to her cause. How many millions do the taxpayers have to spend on not convicting criminals before even she thinks it is a waste of money? Or is convicting criminals only the stated agenda?

Thanks to EmmaGeeMan for the lead.

For the whole article clik above or copy/paste: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16475-2005Jan17.html