Posted on 05/20/2008 9:06:44 AM PDT by strikhedonia
ALBANY -- Efforts to mandate "microstamping" technology in handguns, which advocates say would allow police to better trace bullets, appear to have faded in the state Senate after being targeted by opponents in the gun lobby.
News that the effort lost momentum emerged Monday following a live-fire demonstration at the State Police headquarters target range to promote the technology.
The event, set up by Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, D-Great Neck, underscored the increasingly heated debate over the concept. In an unusual breach of unwritten legislative protocol, opponents, including one of Schimel's colleagues and representatives of gun groups, showed up unexpectedly. The opponents were thrown out before the actual demonstration, but later returned.
Schimel's bill passed the Assembly in April. But when asked if the bill was progressing in the Senate, Schimel merely said "I wish."
That was a reversal from a month ago, when Schimel sided with Sen. Marty Golden, R-Brooklyn. At the time, Golden said he was squarely behind the measure and predicted it would soon pass the Senate.
"This is a tool. An additional tool that the police departments across the land can use," he said at the time.
On Monday, though, Golden's office confirmed the Senate is now looking at creating a study on microstamping, which could delay or even eliminate any chance of its implementation.
"Senator Golden is very supportive of microstamping as a tool to help solve crime. However, there are some serious issues surrounding this technology that we would like to have answered," said Golden spokesman John Banville.
Advocates like Schimel suspect the microstamping issue may have roused the National Rifle Association to push the Senate's Republican majority for a delay. The NRA has historically been active in upstate Senate races.
In microstamping, each handgun gets a unique ID number. That number is etched into the breech and firing pin in a way that would stamp each bullet, allowing police to better match a shell casing with an individual weapon.
Proponents, including numerous police officials who attended Monday's demonstration, say microstamping would cost only about $3 per gun. But opponents, including sportsmen groups and supporters of gun ownership rights, say it could add hundreds to the cost of a handgun. They also question its reliability.
Opponents also say illegally obtained guns, or those from out of state, wouldn't be affected.
Some of those objections were on display Monday as opponents, including NRA lobbyist Gregory Costa; Jake McGuigan, government relations director for the National Shooting Sports Foundation; and Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Carmel, attended the demonstration. Ball, a potential candidate for the 19th Congressional District, now held by Democrat John Hall, led the Republican debate against microstamping in the Assembly.
Ball in a prepared statement later characterized microstamping as possible threat to the Second Amendment.
"This plan is just another way for the government to tax and track law-abiding, registered gun owners," he said.
Also Monday, Gov. David Paterson introduced legislation he said would help police ensure guns are bought legally.
The measure would include a requirement for the state to provide a list of those who've been committed to mental health facilities to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which mandates background checks for the sale of firearms.
Paterson wants to tighten requirements for those who sell and handle weapons in gun shops, mandating they undergo background checks and get a firearms license.
It would also require ballistic evidence from homicides and certain other crimes to be checked against the state's database of 200,000 ballistic images from firearms sold in the state.
More journalistic incompetence.
If I could get a microstamp of a smiley face on the casings, I’m all for it!
Otherwise, forget it.
Criminals will always get guns, regardless, while law biders have to jump through hoops and be under constant suspicion.
Because the distinguished Senators of NY were legislating for the TV/movie world, which is where most of them got their understanding of firearms. Such legislation has no application out here in reality.
Or, and here is one they have probably thought of but don't have the guts to implement, YET, they could implant a micro chip GPS in each of us so that the location of each individual was known at all times. Then when someone was killed we would know exactly who the killer was!NOT.
Any technology can be worked around if you are dedicated to breaking the law. The only one this micro stamping(or GPS micro chips)would actually pin point would be law abiding citizens.
Of course this is what they are after. Control the bulk of citizens and to heck with the criminals. This was the attitude in the old Soviet Union who tended to actually ignore everyday crimes because they had the bulk of the citizens under control.
What? Have someone else actually want to see what is being said/showed to people? Try to keep things fair? How dare they do such a thing???
I'd like "Make my day".
Whenever ... the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction. St. George Tucker
bump
These people are morons. They need a cartridge primer (no pun intended).
Firing Pin:
Cartridge:
1- Bullet
2- Case
3- Powder
4- Rim
5- Primer
Firing pin hits primer, ignites powder, propels bullet.
Casing stays in revolver cylinder
Bullets:
Microstamping removel system:
Can I have your empty brass? Just need it to spread around a crime scene.
They don't need a science class, they need reading comprehension.
And criminals wouldn’t EVER think about filing off the microstamp, which, by the way, will not prevent the pin from striking the primer and firing the bullet.
Give me a break. More tax money to a solution that won’t solve anything, except for finding another way to get more money in the gov’t coffers, and line their pockets with.
I’d say the lib dumbasses did it again. I assume that all ammunition will be redesigned so the primer becomes a permanent part of the casing.
Where does ALGORE and Jimmi stand on this technology.
I know. It's not mine. Since I don't take pictures of my empties, I picked that off the internet.
Now HERE are some primer strikes! Bad lot...
BTW, I shoot Fiocchi a lot in new guns since it runs consistently hot, and I've never had any problems with any of the 4,000 rounds over the last year.
Absolutely brilliant post, THANK YOU! It’s so easy to pick up loose brass, just go to any gun range and look down. I for one am not in favor of having to count every single round I fire, search through all the loose brass, and recover every single casing just to keep some scumbag from placing my “serial number” at the scene of the crime. I might just violate some laws and file off the stamper, which I’m sure the criminals will do too. From all this talk of “bullet stamping” I initially thought the technology was going to somehow stamp the bullet before it’s fired. At least the bullet would be practically impossible for a criminal to recover and place into their victim, but that’s not what they’re talking about. Bullets and casings are two very different things - the media and politicians are basically lying by using the word “bullet” incorrectly.
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