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In an attempt to justify the continuance of the ballistic database system known as CoBIS, the Pataki administration is trying to get around federal law that prevents the sharing of the data from the system with federal authorities.

The Combined Ballistic Identification System (CoBIS) was established in 2001 and requires all new handguns sold in New York be supplied with a fired shell casing which is to be entered into a central database for the purposes of tracing crime guns. It must be noted that in New York to legally possess a handgun you must have a state pistol license that requires extensive state and federal background checks. Handgun owners in New York are the most law-abiding of the state’s citizens and the least likely to commit gun crimes.

It should also be noted that this database of new non-crime handguns can only trace the gun to the first legal owner. If a particular traced handgun should have changed hands numerous times through legal sales or have been stolen, tracing it to its original legal owner is of no value to law enforcement.

Two studies by the California Department of Justice and one by the Maryland State Police have identified numerous flaws in ballistic database systems of this kind.

• The large number of shell casing generated by these systems so pollute the crime gun
  databases as to render them useless.
• A whole category of firearms (revolvers) typically do not leave shell casing evidence at a
  crime scene.
• All potential “hits” must be microscopically examined to be scientifically valid, the logistics of
  such examination cannot easily be addressed.
• Markings on cartridge casings can change with use and can also be readily altered by the user.
  Some brands of handguns can change significantly with as few as 50 rounds fired.
• Different brands of ammunition can produce different markings on shell casings from the
  same gun.
• Some manufacturing processes can produce multiple copies of a single model that are not
  easily distinguished.
• Chain of custody issues with the manufacturer supplied shell casings may routinely be
  rejected by the courts as unreliable.

Walter Rowe, a professor of forensic science at George Washington University, said there are too many ways to get around New York's database. Criminals can buy guns in neighboring states or simply take a file to the gun's breech face, essentially changing the gun's signature."

Considering the supposed amount of gun crime in New York State, Forensic Examiners, as evidenced by only 203 total attempts to use the system in over three years, routinely bypass the CoBIS system due to the known flaws. The New York CoBIS system has to date collected shell casings from over 67,000 handguns at a cost of about $4 million dollars per year or $180 per firearm. As Professor Rowe further stated "If one does a cost benefit analysis, this might not have been a wise way to spend public money".

The CoBIS system is a failure. In the near future Maryland will reportedly dismantle their program yet the Governor and Assembly Speaker Silver want to expand the system to include rifles and shotguns. This “feel good plan” would most likely double the costs, build further on junk science and provide the same dismal results while giving New Yorkers a false sense of security.

In this time of fiscal crisis the funds wasted on CoBIS could be best applied to more useful programs. It is time for the Governor and Legislature to end this worthless program.