Posted on 04/28/2005 8:39:18 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan
LOCKYER BULLET NUMBERING PLAN DOESN'T ADD UP, SAYS CCRKBA
For Immediate Release: April 27, 2005
A proposal by California's anti-gun Attorney General Bill Lockyer to require serial numbers on every handgun bullet and cartridge case sold in the Golden State is a backdoor attempt to make ammunition so cost prohibitive that it will essentially disarm law-abiding gun owners, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today.
"Bill Lockyer's plan to laser-etch handgun ammunition in California is a numbers game that adds up to zero," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "This idea is being pushed ostensibly to make it easy for police to identify criminals who misuse guns. It would not only be enormously expensive for ammunition companies to accomplish, it also amounts to a scheme to register every gun owner in California by the ammunition he or she purchases.
"California authorities can't seem to round up tens of thousands of illegal aliens, many of them gang members, and they have found it impossible to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the state," Gottlieb observed. "Criminals already disobey California's Draconian gun laws, and the laws against assault and murder, so what makes Bill Lockyer think these same hoodlums won't ignore a law that will otherwise only penalize law-abiding gun owners? If they can smuggle drugs and people into California, criminals will just smuggle ammunition into the state, too. What does Lockyer not understand about this?"
Lockyer's proposal would require ammunition manufacturers to laser etch every handgun bullet and cartridge case sold in California. People buying handgun ammunition would have to sign for it. It would make it a crime for anyone coming into the state to bring such ammunition without serial numbers.
"This is not just a California issue," noted CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron. "It could cripple the entire ammunition industry. The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI) thinks this idea is crazy, and we concur. Indeed, SAAMI says it would be an impossible task to serialize ammunition headed to California, and it appears this is exactly what the anti-gun lobby has in mind. It would essentially end ammunition sales in the state, and for what reason? There is no evidence that marking ammunition would have any value in preventing or fighting crime.
"If Bill Lockyer wants to fight crime by the numbers," Waldron stated, "he should hold his breath, count to a hundred and forget about this goofy scheme."
Remember when Joycelyn Elders said we need "safer guns and safer bullets"? And I thought she was crazy.
Buy bullet molds and lead.
No, Bill should hold his breath and count to one thousand.
He may make 100.
Is this a cunning plan to boost ammo sales now?
Lockyer just announced he won't run for CA GUb today and will instead be running for Treasurer in '06. Here's to a laser etch on his buns and an end to such foolishness.
He's just one lifelong bureauc'Rat masquerading as a politico but is really nothing more than another hog at the trough.
Paragraph three is a Home Run.
Sure glad I reload and already have a ton of bullets. I buy them by the thousand, they are cheaper that way.
If this bill passes and is signed by the Governator, you'll have until July 1, 2007 to use 'em all up. At that time, simple possession of unserialized ammuntion becomes a "wobbler" -- either an infraction ($500 fine for each 50 rounds or fraction thereof), or a misdemeanor (if you have a "stockpile" I guess.)
Manufacture of your own lead bullets would be a misdemeanor, 1 year in the slammer, unless you have a laser-etching machine as well a some bullet molds.
If this ever passed, I would get a bullet mold in 9mm, .40, and .45, a bunch of scrap lead, and cast a bunch of bullets. Then I would stand just outside of california border and throw all the bullets over the state line.
Makes lots of sense. Thanks for posting.
Lockyer's proposal ... would make it a crime for anyone coming into the state to bring such ammunition without serial numbers.
Wouldn't that be an unconstitutional infringement of interstate commerce? It wouldn't hinder the worst criminals at all anyway.
He is like many of the politicians in California.
Indeed. Ammo manufacturers won't run two processes, one for California and one for the rest of us.
What would California LE do if ammo suppliers just refused to sell there?
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