The sniper who has put fear in the hearts of many Washington area residents also has rekindled talk of gun control on Capitol Hill - and one set of proposals seems worthy of America’s attention.

The proposals would create a national ballistic fingerprinting system, which could better help law enforcement officials trace shell casings or guns found at crime scenes.

Authorities have used ballistics imaging technology to conclude that bullet fragments and shell casings found from the shootings attributed to the Washington-area sniper’s gun.

The fingerprint proposals would require gun buyers to register the unique casings and bullet fragments from the weapons they purchase.

Gun-rights groups, along with the firearm industry and the White House say the proposed system is an untested idea and worry the measure might restrict gun-owner rights.

But, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms the technology has provided “significant investigative leads” in thousands of cases since its inception a decade ago. By examining unique markings left by gun barrel grooves, the organization has recorded 4,429 matches out of 119,369 images it has logged into its system data.

Although such technology isn’t foolproof, it is a step in the right direction as it concerns gun control.

Something needs to be done to strengthen relaxed gun laws that are currently in place. Every gun should be registered and background checks should be done on every applicant for a gun.

Such requirements aren’t infringements to people’s rights. They are aides to public safety.

Registering a gun would not infringe upon any person’s rights to bear arms, but would be a simple monitoring device to track criminals like the one loose in the Washington area.

Registration would be as simple as registering a car and would carry the same responsibilities that owning a car entails. If a gun is stolen it should be immediately reported and if it is mishandled the owner of the gun should be punished.

There are concerns that the information provided by shell casings will be misused by throwing every single firearm sold into a massive database while not taking into account gun casing changes after numerous firings or barrel grooves that are deliberately altered.

But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found that firearms retain their unique signatures through “hundreds or thousands of firings” and said it is “exceedingly rare” for criminals to alter weapons - just as it is rare for criminals to wear gloves to combat fingerprinting while committing crimes.

While the proposed ballistic ID system isn’t perfect it could be a right step in combating shootings. Such a system would not serve to punish responsible gun owners, but will be another tool in the tool belt of America’s law enforcers.