Posted on 09/06/2007 6:54:57 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO
California would be the first state to require that every semiautomatic handgun cartridge be stamped with an identifying mark if the governor signs a bill that has now cleared both chambers of the Legislature.
The Senate approved the bill Thursday, sending it back to the Assembly for a final vote on amendments. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not said whether he will sign the bill once it reaches his desk.
The measure would require that, starting in 2010, every semiautomatic handgun sold in California would have to automatically "microstamp" each bullet cartridge in two locations as it is fired. The microscopic stamping would identify the gun's make, model and serial number.
The bill would not affect revolvers, rifles or shotguns, but supporters say semiautomatics are the weapon used in a majority of homicides committed with firearms. Unlike revolvers, semiautomatics eject a cartridge each time they are fired, scattering evidence at a crime scene.
"This is something that would be helpful in identifying the gun that was used in the commission of a crime," said Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, during Thursday's debate. "It's just giving law enforcement one more tool."
The measure cleared the Senate 21-17, with no votes to spare.
Opponents said the technology and the bill itself are dangerously flawed.
Criminals could collect cartridges from firing ranges and strew them at crime scenes, implicating innocent citizens, said Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Temecula. The firing pin that stamps the cartridge will either have to be so soft that it could be easily erased, or so brittle that it could break, he said.
Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, argued that the bill will add "more cost and unnecessary harassment, quite frankly, of law-abiding citizens."
Similar legislation was introduced in Massachusetts and Rhode Island this year, according to the bill's author, Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles. A federal bill, modeled on California's, is being considered by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles.
Read AB1471 at http://www.assembly.ca.gov
Good luck getting the gun companies to go along with that one, guys.
Explain this please.
Any idiot with half a brain could see that this will cause far more problems than solve.
They don’t want the gun companies to do it. They want no pistols authorized for sale in CA.
If this passes all anyone has to do is change out the firing pin in the pistol.
Remember: It is the smart liberals (those that can feed and clothe themselves and not make a mess on the floor) who have that much brain matter. Most have much less.
***Good luck getting the gun companies to go along with that one, guys.***
That is the purpose. They ban guns without really banning guns.
A few swipes of emery cloth over the “stamp” and all is gone.
Of course it will, that is want they want. Then when it fails as it must, they will say "See, we tried REASONABLE gun laws but they weren't enough. The only solution is to ban all guns"
That of course will not work either, so yet more laws that fail. Repeat ad nausium.
So what stops a criminal from going to a gun range to pick up some brass, so he can commit a crime with a revolver and “seed” the crime scene with someone elses empties?
So, Kalifornians can buy ammo in another state. Or, reload.
Kalifornian politics strikes me as almost as weird as it gets, for this country.
What good would it do if the shooter simply picked up his casings? Or ran a file over the stamps? Or removed them altogether?
Hey, I know! Let’s just pass a law making it illegal to kill someone except in self defense! Wait, oh, never mind.
How much embarrassment do you suppose they’ll have when it is discovered the extent of “police issue” ammo is used in the commission of crimes?
Only a complete idiot would put an intentional flaw (identifying mark) in an impact tool (firing pin). The only thing that will come out of this is a lawsuit on behalf of someone either killed or maimed firing this accident waiting to happen. A first year engineering student will easily see that the means to this device will cause the metal to fail.
“We’re going to have to take one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily — given the political realities — going to be very modest ...
So then we’ll have to start working again to strengthen the law, and then again to strengthen the next law, and maybe again and again.
Right now, though, we’d be satisfied not with half a loaf but with a slice.
Our ultimate goal — total control of handguns in the United States — is going to take time ....
The first problem is to slow down the increasing number of guns being produced and sold in this country.
The second problem is to get handguns registered.
And the final problem is to make the possession of *all* handguns and *all* handgun ammunition — except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors — totally illegal.”
— Pete Shields, Chairman Emeritus, Handgun Control, Inc. ( “The New Yorker”, July 26, 1976 )
Then they’ll introduce annual inspections to check that every pistol is still stamping legibly ?!
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