WASHINGTON, October 23 (IslamOnline) - A long-debated controversy on what are the best measures to curb criminal activity in the U.S. is finding more ground between the gun-control and gun-rights lobbies in the current election campaigns in light of the escalating terror by the Washington sniper.

The latest attacks had positioned the “Ballistic fingerprinting” resolution on the top of the hot issues list as more candidates are being asked on their position towards the resolution that is presumed to help police forces crack down on violent criminals.

“Ballistic fingerprinting” calls for establishing a data base that would register the fingerprint of each bullet’s unique marking and tracking it to the weapon it was fired from. There is no uniform consensus that this technique is foolproof, yet the gun-control lobby advocates that it would definitely help curtail the level of violence since each fired bullet could be traced back to the weapon’s owner.

But the National Riffle Association, one of the country’s strongest organizations with a powerful and well financed lobby on Capitol Hill, is fighting the resolution because it requires some national gun registration, a procedure that the NRA is adamantly against.

The NRA declared a few days ago that despite the recent tragedies caused by the D.C. sniper, law proposals should be evaluated based on the benefits they yield.

The sniper’s action caused a major blow to the gun rights lobby as resolution HR 2037 to legalize shielding the gun industry from liability of criminal violence was scheduled for a House floor vote last week, but the GOP leadership postponed action on the measure indefinitely because of the current situation, reported the Salt Lake Tribune.

The resolution which was first introduced in May 2001 would protect gun makers and retailers from lawsuits by municipalities seeking to recover the cost of gun violence and block civil actions from individual victims of gun violence claiming negligence.

Historically, the debate over gun control has generally divided Democrats and Republicans along party lines. Thus, it’s no surprise that GOP lawmakers, chief opponents of new gun laws, were the primary recipients of contributions from the National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups. Democrats traditionally have led the charge for stricter gun measures. Geographically, the roots of the pro-gun lobby is much stronger and influential in the South as opposed to the Northeast parts of the U.S. where there are higher levels of violent crimes, and more opposition to gun rights.

Numbers released by the Federal Election Commission early September of the campaign contributions and donations of the 2002 elections show that the pro-gun interest groups and industries have donated over $1,968,459 to candidates, with 7% of these donations given to the Democrats versus 93% to the Republicans.

The NRA contributions alone reached $1,618,137 leading any other interest group in that category, according to the Center for Responsive Politics which tracks down contributions made by lobbies and interest groups to candidates during the election cycles. In contrast the pro-gun control only managed to raise $53,656 with a 100% donation to the Democrats.

U.S. President George W. Bush, who received ardent support from the pro-gun lobby during his presidential elections, has reflected his initial position against the fingerprinting procedures lately. In a press conference held October 15, his Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, answering a question on whether a bullet-tracking law would help the law enforcement find the sniper, said: “The President does believe in the right of law-abiding citizens to own weapons.”

The President’s position gave ammunition against GOP candidates, and rivals attempted to use the current emotionally charged public against loose gun-control measures hoping to sway voters towards candidates in favor of more strict laws. As a result, a comment by the presidential spokesman came two days later stating that the President is looking into the issue of fingerprinting.

In nearby Maryland, which witnessed several of the sniper shootings, the gubernatorial race is taking on the same issue. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Maryland Lt. Gov. and the Democratic candidate, and daughter of the assassinated Robert F. Kennedy, used her family history with sniper assassinations and campaigned on her support of gun-control measures.

But observers fear that same sniper could well affect campaign efforts in the Metropolitan Washington area which encompasses Washington D.C., southern parts of Maryland and Northern Virginia, where the sniper has been striking since October 2.