STATE of NEW YORK REPEALS A GUN CONTROL LAW

OLEAN TIMES HERALD

Assemblyman Joseph M. Giglio says he welcomes the repeal of CoBIS,
the Combined Ballistic Identification System, in one of this year's
state budget bills.

According to the law, gun sellers were required to send firearms to a
CoBIS center where fired shell casings from those guns would be
entered into a statewide databank. Assemblyman Giglio notes that the
state has spent $32 million on CoBIS since the creation of the program
in January of 2001, and not one crime has been solved with this technology.

"This was flawed technology and failed to produce the result that
anti-gun advocates desired," he says. "This was a bureaucratic
nightmare for firearm sellers and an unnecessary cost that they had
to absorb or pass on to their customers. I am proud to have supported
the repeal of this law."

Under CoBIS, firearms dealers had to ship all new firearms to the
regional CoBIS center for testing before they could be sold. While at
the CoBIS center, New York State Police would shoot each firearm,
certifying a ballistic sample from a pistol or revolver, and then
entered the data into the CoBIS databank that identifies the firearm
by make, model, caliber, serial number and gun type.

Assemblyman Giglio says problems with CoBIS resulted in a long list
of faults with the technology, including different brands of
ammunition producing different markings; the process of
microscopically examining all potential "hits;" and markings on
cartridge casings can be readily altered; among many other problems.

"The purpose of this system was to help solve crimes," Assemblyman
Giglio says. "That's all well and good, except when the majority of
crimes committed are done with illegal guns, not licensed, legal and
registered firearms. Microstamping contains the same faults and goes
beyond CoBIS to further restrict firearm manufacturers, dealers,
owners and sportsmen from enjoying their constitutional right to bear
arms. We need to learn from this experience and not waste time and
money with microstamping."

[All emfasis has been added by David.]