Letter: Guns: the reality

March 1st, 2012

Letter: Guns: the reality

PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL
IDN: 043510196
DATE: 2004.12.16
PAGE: A26
BYLINE: ROBERT S. SCIUK
SECTION: Letter to the Edit
EDITION: Metro
DATELINE: Oshawa, Ont.
WORDS: 188

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Guns: the reality

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I think Norman Inkster has been watching too much CSI lately (Faster
Than A Speeding Bullet . . . — Dec. 14). The idea that a
brass-cartridge tool-mark registry can solve crimes is so fraught with
holes as to be laughable.

First, revolvers don’t leave spent brass at crime scenes. Second, any
home gun plumber can change the ejector, extractor, firing pin and
barrel of a firearm in mere minutes, and the gun would then have a
brand-new mechanical and ballistic “fingerprint.” To change a firearm’s
fingerprint from the one filed at a “ballistics registry” would require
all of 20 minutes and $100 worth parts and the gun would be completely
untraceable. So much for Mr. Inkster’s solution.

More inane regulations within the Firearms Act are not going to be any
more useful than the ill-conceived firearms registry.

The fix is simple. Fix harsh minimum penalties for crimes with a
firearm. Enforce them. Eventually, either the bad guys will end up with
lengthy sentences or they’ll be smart enough to think twice before they
pick up a gun. Either way, Canadians will be safer.