- Messages
- 1,546
- Reactions
- 1,044
New York's Combined Ballistics Identification System quietly died recently due to a tight state budget. The program was a complete failure from the start, but that never matters within the politics of gun laws until the money dries up.
This New York Post article offers what I believe is an honest view of the root of gun control legislation:
Cuomo whacks Pataki gun law
Conclusion: Who cares if a program works or not as long as you get the benefit of appearing to be doing something about crime. Facts be damned, it's always a success until budget time.
This New York Post article offers what I believe is an honest view of the root of gun control legislation:
Cuomo whacks Pataki gun law
The budget killed off the so-called CoBis, or Combined Ballistics Identification System, which was rolled out with much fanfare by Pataki in 2000 in what was widely seen as an attempt by the politically ambitious Republican moderate to appeal to anti-gun Democrats nationally, possibly for a future presidential run.
Pataki claimed CoBis would use state-of-the-art technology to establish a DNA database for handguns by requiring manufacturers of new semiautomatic pistols to file spent cartridge shells with the State Police, so that their markings could be kept in a traceable registry and compared to any found at crime scenes.
Many Democrats praised the program, and even then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, running for the US Senate in New York, praised Pataki for showing real leadership in proposing a state-based ballistics program . . . something that needs to be done on a national level.
Vlasto said CoBis cost about $1.2 million a year, but King said it was more like $40 million because of equipment, staff and related expenditures to get the system up and running.
Vlasto said the state would shift at least some of its CoBis spending to the federal National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, which tracks spent shells from guns used in crimes and not simply from those that were legally sold.
Ending CoBis is expected to strengthen the argument against another controversial anti-gun- crime technology, microstamping, which requires gun makers to install a device to put ID marks on spent cartridge shells.
Cuomo backs microstamping, but didnt fight to put it in the budget. It was backed by the Democratic-controlled Assembly but blocked by the GOP-led Senate.
Conclusion: Who cares if a program works or not as long as you get the benefit of appearing to be doing something about crime. Facts be damned, it's always a success until budget time.
