Yes, it won't help solve a crime today. The point is if fingerprinting were implemented now then a couple of years down the road that random gun would be traceable if it were involved in a crime...
I see only value created, at no cost to freedoms, and at a minimal monetary cost on a per gun basis.
The case thrown around everywhere lately is that if our guns were currently fingerprinted, we would have known that John Allen Muhammed was the DC sniper after the first shooting... he was using a gun he purchased himself, legally and under his own name, at a local gun store. It would not have prevented the purchase, but it would have prevented a couple of deaths.
I believe the database would allow for older used guns to be loaded in retroactively, as they moved through gun shops. At the very least, it would force criminals to buy only old guns off the black market, rather than from any available outlet.
