Since its inception in March 2001, a total 311,859 shell casings have been cataloged.

New York State Rifle and Pistol Association

Albany, NY --(Ammoland.com)- The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association said they applaud Governor Cuomo’s proposal to scrap the Combined Ballistic Identification System (CoBIS).

After collecting over 356,000 spent shell casings since March 2001 at an estimated cost of nearly $44 million, not a single crime has been solved because of the program, NYSRPA says.

“By any rational measure, CoBIS has been a total failure,” said NYSRPA President Tom King.

“What is astounding is that there are actually elected officials defending it. Only in Albany would you find people who think that a program which has run for more than 10 years without producing a single result is good public policy.”

The legislature can end the failed system by passing A-1131/S-459.

Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowksi said, “Over the past few years I have had many meetings where people have called into question the effectiveness and cost of the CoBIS program. I plan on consulting with law enforcement during budget negotiations, however, my initial reaction is that it may be the time to end this program and seek alternative, more cost effective law enforcement tools.”

Assemblywoman Annie Rabbit said, “I fully support eliminating the failed COBIS program immediately. It has been a waste of precious taxpayer money.”

Letters to the AmmoLand Editor: Got something on your mind? Let us know and you can see it here.

New York --(Ammoland.com)- Dear: Governor Cuomo, State-Senator Leibel(now in prison), State Senator Ball, Assemblyman ????? (does it really matter, your a democrat)

Every year some new idea about how to make our streets safer via “Gun Control” arrives in New York. We’ve registered our guns. Violent crime continues. We’ve banned assault weapons. Violent crime continues. We ballistically identify our legally possessed pistols. Violent crime continues. There are 200 to 300 million firearms in this country – they are woven into the fabric of our society. For all the “wiz bang” technology that modern society has invented – rifles and pistols are still the foundation of our national and state defense. Thousands of times an hour they are used to dissuade another from pursuing an ill advised path; whether in the hand of a police officer or a private citizen.

Yes – accidents and tragedies happen, and a mature society must look itself in the mirror and draw the proper conclusions from these horrible events, but to think that by passing law upon law the public at large will somehow be magically made safer via “gun control” is psychotic and dangerous.

I and many of you witnessed the attacks on September 11, 2001. Had those pilots – many of whom were ex military officers – been required to carry a side arm; that day would have ended much differently. Imagine all the lives and treasure that could have been saved but for an irrational fear of the law abiding gun owner. Can any of you honestly say that over the past few decades your collective efforts have made New Yorkers safer? If any of you answered yes then you must take a close look at the FBI statistics on violent crime – you’ll find disappointment waiting for you. No law can urge the lawless to ask permission from anyone for anything.

Remember ladies and gentleman criminals, terrorists, and sub human miscreants are dumb, but they are not stupid.

The latest iteration of this policy is the idea that putting a serial number on a bullet casing as it ejects from a semi-automatic pistol will allow law enforcement to detect and thus incarcerate more criminals – this is also referred to as micro-stamping. So let us pretend that all of you are now criminals – how would you alter your behavior to avoid detection? Police your brass. Use a sawed off shotgun. Use a revolver. Gasoline and a match are very effective. Explosives work exceedingly well in motor vehicles. Poison – women seem to prefer this method – Spitzer should hire a food tester. There are very effective ways of killing people that never include a semi-automatic pistol. Not to mention the most obvious trick – remove the firing pin and file off the serializing mechanism.

What about something even more devious – picking up used serialized brass at a firing range and place it at the scene of the future crime to throw off the police. Serializing casings of pistol cartridges not only will not work, but it will create more permutations of that section of the population of New York State that are hell bent on killing for profit or psychosis.

New York State currently operates a system that ostensibly should be doing what micro-stamping or serializing a cartridge would do. That system is called “The New York State Combined Ballistic Identification System,” or COBIS. To date COBIS has cost the taxpayers of New York $30,000,000 and has produced only two matches in its database. It costs $4,000,000 per year to operate. We are not the only State to have attempted such foolishness – Maryland has attempted it also. The only difference is Maryland abandoned it because firearms possessed by law abiding citizens are use to commit crimes in infinitesimally rare circumstances. I could fill five pages with all I know of ballistic identification and it’s pros and cons – I sincerely suggest all of you educate yourselves and rethink New York’s current approach – last I checked New York was running a $5,000,000,000 deficit saving a few million here or there might start adding up to real money.

Many proven methods work to prevent crime, a solid basic education in how to behave in civil society, economic growth, engaged and active parents, etc. But the most effective methods that exist for reducing crime is self defense and long term humane incarceration for those who cannot coexist peacefully with their fellow citizens. New York State concealed carry law is a mess – some counties provide permits to law abiding citizens with out much hassle while others, “you have to know somebody.” Fix this and you’ll have a safer society. Don’t get me wrong – have stringent rules and requirements that are not capricious for the officials as well as the applicants, but stop deluding yourselves in thinking that permit holders and firearms are in and of themselves the enemy – the opposite is true – concealed carry holders are the most productive and law abiding segment of society.

Florida maintains excellent statistics on this point – less then one hundredth of one percent of all permit holders has ever committed any crime in its entire thirty year history of concealed carry! Before Elliot Sptitzers behavior was detected he let 200 murderers out of prison. These people did not steal a loaf of bread to feed their children – THEY KILLED AND RAPED PEOPLE. Fix this and you’ll have a safer society. Bring back the death penalty for criminals that take an officers life.

Please stop attacking me and my fellow firearms owners we neither deserve your ire or your ad hominem attacks.

Focus your efforts on what works and not what will get any of you reelected, stop using firearms as a means to win votes in an effort to demonstrate to your misguided constituents that you can save them from violent crime if only they surrender more of their forgotten liberty, when the opposite is true – even they at some point will recognize your hypocrisy for what it is.

Respectfully,

Joe Doakes

Dumb Gun Laws In New York

Letters to the AmmoLand Editor: Got something on your mind? Let us know and you can see it here.

New York --(Ammoland.com)-From the perspective of a long time Second Amendment activist, I have been forced to conclude that New York has some of the most Draconian and dumb gun control laws.

Admittedly, there is competition from California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

They also have some real dandies when it comes to ineffective and stupid laws involving firearms.

We have lived with the Sullivan Law which calls for the licensing of handgun owners and the registration of all handguns. I have spoken to several cops, district attorneys, lawyers and politicians and asked them how many gun crimes have been solved because the gun was registered. I have yet to hear a positive number from any of them.

Of course registration works. It worked wonderfully well for Adolph Hitler and several other dictators. It certainly destroyed any meaningful attempts to rescue the citizens from oppression. In fact, it is difficult to find any republic or democracy that was taken over by a dictator without first imposing gun control and registration. It sure made it convenient for those in power to disarm the citizens.

The term “gun control” can be misleading because it isn’t about controlling guns. It is about controlling people.

The laws affect only honest citizens because criminals don’t obey laws—that’s why they are called criminals. The ironic part of the registration law is that criminals can’t be charged with not registering a firearm. The Supreme Court said it would be a violation of their Fifth Amendment rights.

But, back to the dumb gun laws in New York. It takes a few months to a year in the Empire State to get a pistol permit. In Pennsylvania it takes less than an hour and this includes permits for non-residents. The difference in crime statistics involving guns between the states is insignificant.

The real objective of the anti-gun politicians is to make guns illegal for all but their favored few. That was the objective of Tim Sullivan who got the law passed. That’s why an upstate cop can’t legally carry a handgun in the Big Apple unless he is on duty and has the OK from the Police Commissioner.

That is a real crime stopper!

The big push for this legislative session is called microstamping which is an unproven technology that is supposed to create an imprint on fired cartridge cases. It has yet to be shown to work. It is a method (politicians say) to put a mark on the case that will link it to the gun that fired it.

There are a couple of big problems with this bill. First, it is obvious that the sponsors want to keep manufacturers from selling semi-automatic handguns in New York. We have not, so far, found any major manufacturer that is willing to invest on this technology for the whims of politicians in one state.

The second problem is that most guns used in crimes are stolen or bought off the street. An offshoot (pardon the pun) is that a criminal could pick up fired brass at a gun club range, commit a crime and use a brass catcher to avoid leaving his cases at a crime scene and drop the other cases. Wouldn’t that be confusing?

Most significant is the fact that a gun with the imprinting ability can be easily altered to defeat the microstamping. A file, power drill with a hone and some valve grinding compound could remove the identifying marking images. That would make the system totally ineffective.

Several years ago Governor Pataki instituted the CoBIS system which requires any semi-auto handgun sold at a gun store to provide a fired case and give to the State Police for their records. It is difficult to get an exact figure of the cost, but a good guess is around $20 million. In the decade it has been in existence, NOT ONE CRIME case has been solved with this program.

We had a report that one third of the cases sent to Albany for the data base had not yet been entered. What a waste of taxpayer’s money!

This would be a good time to contact legislators and the governor to tell them to forget about this microstamping bill and use their time doing something useful.

Since its inception in March 2001, a total 311,859 shell casings have been cataloged.

New York State Rifle and Pistol Association

TROY, NY --(Ammoland.com)- This month marks the 10th anniversary of New York’s Combined Ballistic Identification System (CoBIS) program.

Under this program, all new handguns sold in the state must be test fired and the shell casing imaged and entered into an electronic databank for possible crime scene identification.

Since its inception in March 2001, a total 311,859 shell casings have been cataloged. At an estimated cost of $4 million dollars per year, $40 million dollars has been spent on CoBIS over the past decade.

What have taxpayers received for this? Absolutely nothing!

Not a single crime has been solved because of it. By any measure, CoBIS has been a total failure and a public policy disaster.

Now, the same people who swore CoBIS would work are back pushing more of the same failed philosophy in the form of mandatory firearms microstamping, which is essentially another ballistic imaging scheme based upon unproven science fiction technology. The New York State Sheriffs’ Association recognizes this nonsense and opposes the microstamping legislation.

NYSRPA calls upon Governor Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and state legislative leaders to publicly recognize these boondoggles for what they are, defund the CoBIS program and stand up to the fringe special interests advocating microstamping.

About:
The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association is the state’s largest and oldest firearms advocacy organization. Since 1871, our organization has been dedicated to the preservation of Second Amendment rights, firearm safety, education and training, and the shooting sports. Our membership consists of individuals and clubs throughout the state. We are a not-for-profit 501(c)4 organization and the official NRA-affiliated State Association in New York. Visit:  www.nysrpa.org

New York State Rifle and Pistol Association

TROY, NY --(AmmoLand.com)- In these difficult economic times, Gov. Paterson has called for $3 billion in budget cuts. The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association has a suggestion for saving several million taxpayer dollars each year: abolish the Combined Ballistic Identification System (COBIS).

The COBIS program was introduced by Gov. Pataki in 2000. Its stated purpose is to collect identifying data from the shell casings of all new handguns sold in the state.

This information is then entered into a database for use by law enforcement to aid in identifying and prosecuting criminals.

Since its inception, over a quarter of a million shell cases have been collected and entered into the database at an estimated cost of $32 million and not a single arrest or conviction has resulted.

In fact, COBIS has proven to be such a boondoggle that no other state is even considering implementing their own version of it.

If Gov. Paterson is serious about saving money, then COBIS ought to be at the top of the list of programs to be cut.

About:
The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association is the state’s largest and oldest firearms advocacy organization. Since 1871, our organization has been dedicated to the preservation of Second Amendment rights, firearm safety, education and training, and the shooting sports. Our membership consists of individuals and clubs throughout the state. We are a not-for-profit 501(c)4 organization and the official NRA-affiliated State Association in New York.