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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 2002)
b ATTM[| th imbissytoesprsi d swift actions ■lid U.S. authon® th Jordanian nister, Mohamind to “deal senocs'i 'hich he called its national secir f olitical opposik i Front, also at- g civilians L'lirii- ' Arabiat, presida uncil. and Europeais ly safe, an Isa killed last year s Foley, and! jnded by ginti 1 at Opinion The Battalion Page 9 • Tuesday, October 29, 2002 A better way exists Ballistic fingerprinting could prevent mass murder tragedies from recurring COLLINS EZEANYIM I he recent sniper shoot ings created an iprecedented level of panic in Washington, D.C. area. Armed with a Bushmaster XM 15 semiautomatic rifle, Snipers killed 10 people and injured three. The snipers eluded capture because of the scant evi dence they left behind. The sniper shootings show the need for a ballistic “fingerprint” database. If such a sys tem had been in place before the crimes had been committed, arrests could have been made sooner and innocent lives would have been saved. The barrels of rifles “contain a series of spi ral grooves” that leave “signature scratches on the bullet’s surface” when the gun is fired, according to Time Magazine. Although these grooves are specified by the model of the gun, each rifle has unique imperfections that allow investigators to match bullets to a specific weapon. Only two states have implemented a ballistic fingerprint database — Maryland and New York, according to The Baltimore Sun. Maryland’s database does not include rifles, such as the kind the sniper used to inflict terror, is clear that a gun fingerprint database is needed at the federal level that includes all types of weapons. Sen. Charles Schumer, D- N.Y., wishes to introduce a bill that would make such a system a reality, according to The Baltimore Sun. Such a database would require that a firearm be test-fired before it is sold so that its distinct finger print could be kept in a database that investigators could use later, according to Newsday. Not surprisingly, gun-rights advocates are firm ly opposed to the idea. They claim that such a database will lead to a national gun registry, according to The Baltimore Sun. They have also expressed doubts about the accuracy of gun finger printing. Some gun advocates say that the mark- various facGi lings made by the firearm on a bullet change as the ered, indue?. Igim is fired many times. They also argue that crim- law enforce'*! inaiscandeliberately alter the barrel of the gun, (buschanging the imprint left behind. But the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) strongly disagrees with these wints. An ATF study showed that “bullets have been shown to be consistent through hundreds or thousands of firings,” according to Newsday. It is very unlikely that a criminal will shoot a firearm thousands of times. The same study found that attempts to change the imprint of firearms by criminals were “excep tionally rare.” One ATF firearms examiner, throughout his 15-year career, only saw two cases ^here a criminal tried to alter the imprint of a firearm, according to Newsday. Both cases were unsuccessful, and the ATF was still able to match the evidence to the precise firearm. Thus, there 1 be no fears about inaccuracy in a gun fin- § er print database. President Bush has also expressed his opposi- n to such a database. The administration claims tit takes this position due to privacy concerns. considerate 5 were sih she would se envoy tio was ie United Si* ack scovered y risk, that wS i al-Qaidateif ind who did t' 8 : useful T what we Kti primary reason-' the Guantana* )een “tofindo- i about f ble to stop, /ities,”hes week’s releast ■als, the Un en holding ountries, cal mibatants. GHT! irsday Nigh 1 according to Newsday. Ari Fleischer, White House spokesman, gave this argu ment in opposition to a national gun fingerprint database: “Is that to say that every citizen in United States should be fingerprinted in order to catch robbers and thieves? ... The presi dent does believe in the right of law-abiding citi zens to own weapons.” The position taken by the president is an ironic shame. He wants to do every thing in his power to disarm Saddam Hussein of dangerous weapons, yet won’t take the necessary measures to stop stateside terrorists who use firearms as their weapons of mass destruction. If the proposed ballistics database does lead to gun registration or something similar, legitimate, law-abiding gun-owners have nothing to fear. After all, if citizens want to vote, they must register. Drivers also have the obligation to register their vehicles. There is no reason why guns shouldn’t be registered. And the charge that such a system will lead to the confiscation of guns is laughable. The Constitution, the supreme law of the land, explicitly states in its second amendment that citizens have a right to bear arms. But the public also has a right to safety. And law-enforcement officials have the right to information that could help catch killers. This information could come from programs such as the National Integrated Ballistic Infonnation Network (NIBIN) which is deployed by the ATF. NIBIN equipment compares the markings made by firearms on a bullet, thus minimizing the amount of evidence firearms examiners must inspect when dealing with a crime, Putting all public records on Internet violates privacy BRIEANNE PORTER Uz- Xlems can occur when new and updated technology is jotroduced. The court systems of the United otes have seen such problems with the Internet 311 open access to public records. n the past, open access meant going to a ourthouse to gather infonnation. Now, with ar iy courts streamlining workloads, court cases e on the Internet. Anyone with access to the ■ emet can get this infonnation. Many issues of P vacy, retaliatory actions and identity theft have me to ^e forefront because of the unlimited acc «s to public records. mat' 86 eases contain large amounts of infor- *on that are sensitive, including Social cunty numbers, names and addresses of wit- vj 0 ] Ses anc ' jurors and allegations of domestic to d 61106 ^ le federal court system has decided Put civil and bankruptcy cases online without tuirihp^ m fe ITna ti on such as Social Security fe. rs ' hirth dates and names of minors, foi] 0r ln S to The New York Time?,. States need to st . 0VV su h by limiting personal information in 'County and city court cases, is all any criti e s argue that once the government owed to limit access to information, it will ,0,^ to records off-line for alternative tarin^ • ^ m deeply suspicious of anyone tin- fiiev’^ Wlt * 1 °P en access records laws because reJ^^yd^g h for a specific self-serving Ohinr Sa ^ ^ irnothy Smith, director of the Ame H enter fe r Privacy and the First Yoi-i ^ 1116,11 at Kent State University in a New k J' nies article. govern' le 1S . a va lid point to be leery of the rne nt limiting open access because of ideas such as freedom of the press, which would include the ability to access information, the issue of privacy and personal safety is a more pressing issue to solve. It is not impossible to believe that some gov ernment officials may use this issue as an excuse for limiting the press’ access to other public information, such as information covered in Texas’ Public Information Act. The act allows information such as past criminal histories to be posted about government employees. The public has entrusted a certain amount of faith in its leg islators to not abuse their power. To protect against such abuses. The public needs to be knowledgeable and informed about the measures its legislators are taking. One of the greatest concerns about online open access to public records is identity theft and all the problems that are caused by it. “Some courts delete obviously sensitive data such as Social Security numbers, but one could also find bank account numbers and a person’s name and address, information that could help an identity thief,” according to The Associated Press. There have been many horror stories about a person’s information being taken from records of minor court proceedings, including something as com mon as divorce cases. Another horror story is when an online thief opens credit cards in a per son’s name, leaving them with the debt and has sle of working to clean up the mess of all that results from an identity theft. An example of this is when “someone used the (Hamilton County court’s Web) site to get, the general manager of Cincinnati’s hockey arena, Jim Moehring’s Social Security number and other personal details from a 1996 traffic ticket, opening seven credit cards in his name and charging $ 11,000,” according to The New York Times. By limiting the information placed in open records, states could decrease instances like this. Another concern of open access is the vulner ability of victims, witnesses and jurors to retalia tion from criminals or potentially becoming another victim for another predator. It is not a far stretch of the imagination to see the predictable dangers to these people if the infonnation is readily available to anyone with access to the Internet. A continuation of this concern is the idea of information from divorce proceedings, including lists of assets, names of children and even lay outs of homes put divorced women at risk for stalkers. “People don’t have good intentions, and the county is laying a road map for them,” said Randal Bloch, a Cincinnati divorce lawyer, in The New York Times. “It goes beyond stolen identity. It speaks of personal safety.” In the New Jersey Law Journal, Grayson Barber offers an idea of what information should be deleted from open access records. These include “income and business tax returns; names, addresses or telephone numbers of sexual assault and domestic violence victims as well as witnesses, informants and potential or sworn jurors in criminal cases; medical and mental health records; and trade secrets and other intel lectual property.” This type of information puts people at risk for serious dangers and conse quences if they fall in the hands of people with evil intentions. States, as well as other court systems, need to create clear and concise rules and proce dures for limiting dangerous information from online public records. It is an issue of privacy and personal safety. Brieanne Porter is a senior political science major. according to a release on the NIBIN Web site, www.nibin.gov. According to the release, “Law enforcement agencies. . . discover links between crimes more quickly, including links that would have been lost without the technolo gy.” NIBIN shows a lot of promise, but the ATF can only deploy the equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies. Legislation such as that proposed by Schumer can imple ment this type of system nation-wide. But with out support from the president, there’s very lit tle chance it will become law, Schumer told Newsday. Very little good has come out of the sniper shootings. But if it convinces America to implement an urgently needed gun fingerprint database, then the innocent people slaughtered will not have died in vain. Collins Ezeanyim is a senior computer engineering major. MAIL CALL Corps member should not have attacked Nebraska football fans 1 was extremely disappointed and saddened by the way the officer of the day performed at the game on Saturday evening. I don't believe that his actions were a reflection of the entire Corps of Cadets, but I do believe his actions will be reviewed as a reflection of our University. I watched him run up to not one but two fans from the opposing team and punch one in the back of the head knocking him down and the other in the face. If the security guards were doing their job, no one would be on the field besides players, coaches, and other people with the team(s). I just hope that something is done to prevent people from running wild on Kyle Field and to prevent certain members of the Corps from making our University not only look like bad sports, but also make people question our traditions and integrity. Jennifer Ashley Class of2002 Nebraska fans should not have been on Kyle field after game I would like to know, where the police and security guards were on Saturday night to stop the Nebraska fans from rushing Kyle Field. Furthermore, 1 was extremely disappointed to once again see the 12th Man leaving the stands after the Ags got outscored. Now, I know what those of you who left are going to say. You're going to bellow that you are completely within your rights to leave whenever you want. However, the fact that it is your right to do something doesn't mean that something is the right thing to do. Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and their own actions. This is America. In my opinion, though, a good portion of the 12th Man needs a swift kick in the pants. Ryan T. Reynolds Class of 2002