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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.
Better yet, replace your firing pin with a custom-made firing pin of the person you want to incriminate.
Talk about set-up jobs.
It says it will microstamp in “two” places on the cartridge. Will there be two firing pins? Where will the other stamp be?
There will have to be another stamping device either on the breach or side of the cartridge. Or two firing pins. One for the primer and one just to stamp. Then they’ll make it illegal to tamper with any firing pin or stamping device. Like cars it will be illegal to tamper with your own property.
“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.”
Ping.
It’s up to RINO, ARRRRNOLD now.
These people can go to hell.
That's the idea - to make owning a gun just that much more of a hassle.
They'll go along or they won't sell any semi-autos in California. If they had cojones and enough reserves to back it up, they'd sell only revolvers in the land of fruits and nuts. But of course it they all or most all did that, the Federal Justice Department would probably charge them with conspiracy to restrain trade. (As if the very essence of many federal gun control laws isn't restraint of interstate trade.)
They'll just make possession of an unmarked firing pin or one not associated with your registered firearm a felony.
Steel cased ammo will probably have to be illegal, too.
Probably on the extractor. Possibly in the chamber itself. My H&K, granted a rifle, leaves a very distinctive pattern on it's fired brass, due to it's fluted chamber. Just put a little "microstamp" pattern on one of the flutes, and there you go. Or just on the otherwise smooth walls of the chamber.
Maybe, but the steel in the cases is much softer than that used for firing pins, extractors and the barrel/chamber.
Yeah, they probably added the 2 places requirement to foil firing pin replacement.
If you start imprinting the side of the case, you could have extraction troubles, though.
I guess a mark on the case would be a problem for reloading that case as well.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
This is going to be a bureaucratic nightmare for the manufacturers as well as the state. If one or both of the parts break the manufacturer, or the dealer, will have to replace the exact stamp for that individual pistol. Or they will provide a new stamp and the pistol will have to be re-registered with the new code.
What about the vast majority of semi-automatic pistols without the stamps?
If this goes into law what the authorities will discover from most recovered shells is that they were fired by stolen pistols.
Gangs will probably get custom engraved firing pins to replace the ones with the ID info.
You’ll know for sure it was an MS-13 member who killed your family member because MS-13 will be stamped on the cases where the serial number is supposed to be.
That’s the biggest error in this type of legislation. Gangbangers and convicted felons don’t buy their weapons legally. As somebody posted above, criminals can retrieve spent shells from other sources to drop at the scene and confuse police. I can imagine an underground market for these shells.
In the mean time, if our liberal, Austrian governor signs the legislation into law, pistol vendors in California will be elated as sales skyrocket over the next three years while consumers rush to beat the micro stamp grand opening in 2010.
Post micro stamp, there with always be wheel guns if you just have to have a compact weapon for neighborhood drive-bys.
I’m thinking of getting “kiss my ass” engraved on my firing pins...
Maybe RKBA ...
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