New Yorkers Against Gun Violence’s shill Michelle Schimel is upset that Gov. Cuomo’s budget proposal for for eliminating CoBIS and using the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) instead. From Newsday, “Critics: Cuomo plan would hurt crime-fighting“:
“… But Schimel said the national system is severely limited because it collects data only from weapons found at crime scenes. ”With NIBIN,” she said, referring to the national system, “you need to find the gun, not just the [spent] cartridge.” …
NIBIN is limited only in so far as it’s ability to target honest gun owners. It uses real evidence found at a crime scene as opposed to CoBIS which assumes all gun owners are criminals. CoBIS doesn’t actually help police find the gun or the person who used it illegally. Its best case scenario is to point to the original purchaser.
“… She wants to use the dispute to push for “microstamping” ammunition, which she says is more effective and won’t cost the state because it doesn’t require a database … “I’ve been disappointed with the results of CoBIS, too,” Schimel said. ”But CoBIS is like an eight-track tape and microstamping is like Blu-ray technology” …”
She’s disappointed because after collecting 356,631 shell casings (as of 12/11), she cannot point to a single crime which was solved because of the program. That makes her and all gun control proponents look bad. It also makes her microstamping proposal (which is basically another ballistic identification scheme) look bad and that is what she is really bent out of shape about.
Schimel is the only legislator I’ve seen to speak out against the Governor on this issue. The State Police aren’t either and they administer CoBIS. I think it’s going to take a lot more to get him to drop the idea than just her whining.
