With all the talk of ballistic fingerprinting and how it would have already caught the beltway sniper, Fox News takes a look at some of the startling facts about the theory.

In case you are unfamiliar with what ballistic fingerprinting is, it involves sending a fired bullet and spent casing to a government agency prior to selling a firearm. In theory, any crime scene bullets and casings could then be matched to a firearm in the central database. However, despite both Maryland and New York already requiring fingerprinting, it hasn't helped solve a single crime. Maryland fingerprinting 17,000 firearms since January 2000, and not one has been matched to a crime scene.

A report done by California ballistics experts concluded that computer matching fails 38% of the time with same manufacturer cartridges. The failure rate climbs to a whopping 62% with cartridges from different manufacturers. With many shooters reloading their cartridges, matching would be all but impossible. And matching bullets is even more futile, because they are deformed and fragmented upon impact. What is very telling is that the California report was silenced by California's own Attorney General's office. The AG, Bill Lockyer, who takes a strong gun control stance, has not only silenced the report, but prohibited the ballistics experts from even discussing the topic itself.

Other problems with the practice are that ballistic 'fingerprints' change over time. The inside of a gun barrel wears over time, and can be easily altered. You could also just as easily purchase a new barrel, which would change the ballistics completely.

This doesn't stop gun grabbers like the Coalition to Stop Gun Ownership Violence and the Brady Campaign from using high profile killings to further their agenda. They are touting ballistic fingerprinting like it's as cut and dry as human fingerprints and DNA evidence.

The sad fact is that this practice will do nothing to solve crime, yet will cost millions to implement. It is 'feel good' legislation that does nothing more than help further the gun grabbing agenda of selling less guns.