BALLISTIC FINGERPRINTING MAKES SENSE

BALLISTIC FINGERPRINTING MAKES SENSE
St. Petersburg Times: It is beside the point to argue whether a nationwide database for tracing bullets to gun owners could have stopped the mystery sniper terrorizing suburban Washington. The fact remains that a tracing system could have added a vital piece to the puzzle. President Bush should stand squarely behind a national registry of these so-called ballistic fingerprints. The issue is not gun control, but protecting the public when guns are involved in a crime.
The White House sent mixed messages last week about whether it would support such a fingerprinting system. The White House spokesman first said that Bush had doubts about the technology, but later said the president had ordered a review of a ballistic fingerprinting system. Guns, when fired, leave a distinct mark on a shell casing. This is how investigators are able to determine whether bullets were fired from the same gun. The practice is used by police to process crime scenes, but they need a greater ability to trace a bullet to a gun and the gun to its specific owner.
Not a special-interest issue
The National Rifle Association questions the science, derides fingerprinting as a "scheme" akin to gun registration and says the process is inherently flawed because the gun's signature marking of a shell casing is altered over time by repeated firing. Some ballistic experts disagree. Congress and the administration should not wait for legislation that is acceptable to the NRA. Public safety is not a special-interest issue. We also have uninsured motorists with suspended licenses driving up and down the streets. Does that mean the government should do away with licensing laws for drivers?
Maryland and New York have a fingerprinting system for handguns, but the ideal system would hold prints nationwide from every weapon in circulation. At the very least we should require the fingerprinting of every new gun by the manufacturer, who could provide the government with a copy of the fingerprint as easily as automakers duplicate a car key. Local police need to have ready access to a central database for the information to do their jobs. Federal and state agencies will need money to enforce the plan and to maintain an accurate registry.
The science of conducting ballistic tests must continually be perfected. While criminals are not inclined to follow the law, authorities can make inroads every time they capture illegal stores of weapons. These challenges are not valid reasons to deny society a capability to track down a sniper who takes deadly aim at men, women and children.
GAZA'S PAIN
Toronto Globe and Mail: The words could have been a chant at one of the pro-Palestinian rallies so common now: "Stop its cruel war machine."
But the blunt assessment of Israel's military campaign in the Palestinian territories actually was made by left-wing Israeli opposition leader Yossi Sarid, who has had enough of the army's toleration of the rising rate of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip.
"It is no longer possible to explain or justify how so many innocent men, women and children are killed by the army," he said. "How many times can we say 'we did not intend to,' and who can still believe these excuses?"
Sarid's salvo followed a military operation in the border town of Rafah in which eight Palestinians were killed and a dozen more seriously injured. Tank shells were fired into a number of homes; the dead included two children and two elderly women. This operation was just the latest in weeks of bloody military operations inside Gaza. Earlier this month, a raid on the town of Khan Yunis left 17 dead and scores wounded.
The Israeli government made its rote response Friday. The army, an official said, "does everything to avoid civilians being hurt."
This is wearing thin in Washington, too. The Bush administration has repeatedly expressed concerns about what it describes as a significant increase in Palestinian civilian deaths during Israeli military operations.
Surgical strikes
These are not, to use military parlance, surgical strikes aimed at destroying weapons factories or killing men Israel believes to be responsible for terrorism against its citizens. The missions are part of a vague strategy of putting overall pressure on the radical Islamic organization Hamas, which controls much of Gaza. Hamas vows more terrorist attacks within Israel.
Meanwhile, the tight curfew in the West Bank is leading to international concerns about malnutrition. Schoolchildren in some West Bank towns have had to openly defy the curfew just to go to school. Israel says the virtual lockdown, which was loosened somewhat in recent days, has succeeded in averting suicide bombings. But it may also -- as one European diplomat said a few days ago -- have turned the West Bank into the world's largest detention camp.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon earned his nickname "Bulldozer" 30 years ago when, still a soldier, he was given responsibility for taking on Palestinian guerrillas in Gaza. At times resorting to a shoot-to-kill policy, he cleared wide swaths through the refugee camps by leveling hundreds of homes, making it easier for the Israeli army to patrol. His tactics resulted in international condemnation then, too.
Sharon still appears to believe that tough military tactics alone will make Israel secure. The safety of Israelis must be his first concern. But they cannot be made safe without political progress toward peace. Sharon controls the Palestinian territories once again. He needs to offer more to the millions who live there than occupation and privation.