apt-get --reinstall doesn't work

[Marty <martyb@ix.netcom.com>]

I tried to replace the following missing files,

/etc/hotplug/usb/libgphoto2
/etc/hotplug/blacklist.d/libsane

using the following (correct) commands:

apt-get --reinstall install libsane
apt-get --reinstall install libgphoto2-2

The commands ran without evident error, but neither missing
file was replaced.  dpkg -P followed by apt-get install
replaced the missing files.

Either there is a bug somewhere (but where?) or I am
missunderstanding something.  Any help is appreciated.