Posted on 12/15/2008 9:47:06 AM PST by epow
Legislation (SB 12) that would mandate, as early as 2010, bullet serialization -- the process by which each individual round of ammunition is identified and marked with a laser-engraved serial number -- was introduced, December 11th, by Senator Ronald Ramsey, Sr. in the Georgia State Senate. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association of the firearms and ammunition industry, has made clear that serializing ammunition on a mass production basis is not feasible from a practical standpoint and any legislation mandating such action could rightfully be considered a de facto ban on ammunition.
NSSF is encouraging all sportsmen, hunters and firearms enthusiasts to contact their state Senator and call the bill's sponsor, urging them to strongly oppose this would-be ammunition ban.
The domestic small arms ammunition industry produces between 10 and 12 billion ammunition cartridges a year at already low-profit margins. The three largest domestic manufacturers (who collectively account for the vast majority of the market) produce an estimated 20 million rounds of ammunition in a single day. Ammunition manufacturers could not serialize their product without hundreds of millions of dollars in capital investment to build the new factories that would be needed in order to meet the requirements of bullet serialization. The slowdown in the production process would result in what currently takes one day to produce into a nearly four-week effort.
Bullet Serialization is dangerous and not practical. This legislation which would mandate bullet serialization not only threatens law-abiding gun-owners but manufacturers' ability to supply the nation's law enforcement officers and military with high-quality ammunition.
Please call your state senator today and let them know that legislation mandating bullet serialization and also the destruction of previously owned non-coded ammunition will not improve public safety but rather put law-abiding citizens at risk.
Learn more about serialization at http://nssf.org/media/FactSheets/Microstamping.cfm
Maybe he should think about “serializing” violent criminals instead.
This is not a crime fighting measure, it is as others have said, a defacto ban against lawful gun ownership. This is the left's way of doing an end run around this past summer's Heller decision. They can't ban the guns so they will effectively make them useless by making it next to impossible to buy ammunition for them.
Your homepage says "the currency of democracy is blood." Do you really know what that means?
Posted this on the other thread:
Could somebody please explain the sudden urgency to eliminate our second amendment rights? I realize that the underlying reason is for the Socialists to attain even more power. But what is the stated justification for this? A few shootings here and there?
Make them explain WHY they are trampling on a fundamental part of the Constitution?
Has there been a sudden increase in crime? Or shootings?
Have these idiotic gun control schemes ever worked?
Have any crimes ever been solved by these methods?
Do they really think we’re going to fall for the BS that it will stop criminals from using guns?
Newsflash, they can’t seem to stop illegals and drugs from crossing the border – so how are they going to stop the criminal element from importing ammunition?
As with every one of these idiotic schemes the Social-Fascist Dimicrats Belch out, it will disarm the law abiding and empower the lawless – both in and out of the government.
Do you very well mind if I ask a freaking question, jerky? Thanks very much. I’ll be sure to consult you next time I have a questions to make sure it’s adequately sophisticated for your delicate sensibilities.
Douche.
They plan to indelibly stamp a serial # on the inside of every plastic shell casing. There isn't much they can do about serializing individual birdshot pellets, but it would probably be possible to stamp a number on OO and OOO buckshot pellets and of course on rifled slugs and sabot slugs as well. But just the cost of placing a serial # inside the shell case alone will make shotgun shells even more expensive than they are now, which is the real point of serializing ammo to begin with. I and millions of other reloaders have a good supply of empty shells, brass, and reloading components for all my guns, and if we're required to destroy all our ammo and reloading components there's going to be an awful lot of lead, primers, and powder buried all around the US.
As I said before, the whole point of ammo serialization is to make ammunition so expensive that most of us won't be able to afford it and the proposed nickel per round tax is just more proof of that. Instead of a 100 round box of .22 rimfire ammo costing around $5 or $6 it will cost around $10 or $12.
My brother in law was stationed in Spain several years ago where gun owners were at that time allowed to buy only 25 rounds of ammo per year for each gun for which they had a permit, and our own anti-gun fanatics wold dearly love to put us in that same situation and much worse. I understand that 18 states are now considering ammo serialization laws, and this is going to soon become a national issue as well as a state issue. We all know that Obamanation is lying through his teeth when he says he supports the 2nd Amendment. It will take every effort that we can muster up to keep the 2nd Amendment in effect through the next 4 years, and we had better realize here and now that it will take our best efforts and lots of money to defeat the gun grabbers who now own the White House, both houses of Congress, and 4 SCOTUS seats lock stock and barrel. If just one of the five SCOTUS Justices who voted to sustain Heller dies or retires while Obama is in office the 2nd Amendment will be a dead duck before Obama's term expires.
Here's a really effective way to fight crime: stop releasing criminals so easily. If somebody is too dangerous to be allowed to buy firearms, then he's too dangerous to be allowed loose on the streets.
The single most effective way to reduce crime is to identify who the career/habitual criminals are, prohibit plea bargains for career criminals, and put them away for the maximum possible time. Career criminals account for a grossly disproportionate amount of our crime.
Indelicately worded, yes, but many people see this as a well-duh kinda thing.
Expending resources to acquire and retain and track paperwork on BILLIONS of rounds made/sold annually is enormous, with practically zero payoff.
New York (and other states) tried something similar, aka “ballistic fingerprinting”. It drove up costs significantly, caused all kinds of headaches for people, and has done exactly nothing to solve crime for the last decade. The money and time spent would have done FAR more good expended elsewhere.
Consider carefully that this scheme would make YOU a criminal for not participating in (and paying for) a system which literally has a one-in-a-billion chance of being relevant to _possibly_ solving a crime.
Any registration scheme amounts to “guilty until proven innocent”, as vast numbers of innocents are required to provide personal information regarding crimes they won’t commit. In perverse contrast, criminals will just steal ammo. Such a system does absolutely nothing to stop crime, and only makes a miniscule improvement (if at all) in solving crimes.
Upshot: this proposal involves tremendous expenditure of resources, and hassles a great many people, for a negligible benefit to police (and a huge detrement to police if you consider how those resources could be far better used elsewhere).
Jeez, I thought it said “bullet sterilization”.
you gonna mico-engrave every piece of shot in a shotgun shell?
what happens when the bullet deforms (as it is supposed to) and you can't read the micro stamp?
all sorts of issues with this type of law despite the fact it is just stupid
I’m not seeing the bill on the GA senate website.
My mistake, I forgot about the cost of serializing each bullet and shell case added to the 5 cents per round tax. If this becomes law small caliber ammo like .17, .22, and .25 will probably cost 4 or 5 times what it costs now due to the additional difficulty of stamping a microscopic serial # on each tiny bullet and casing. Ammo made for the military will probably be exempted from the law, so there will no doubt be a thriving underground market in military rifle and pistol ammo stolen from National Guard storerooms and elsewhere.
It marks the shell, not necessarily the projectile(s). There’s lots of misleading/conflicting information on the subject flying around.
Many people who know tings about guns. I could do a whole lecture about ancient and medieval armor and weapons, battle tactics, and military organization from Japan to the Amazon, but what I know about modern firearms would fit in a very small tomato can. Unless you count all of the games of Hitman that I've played.
All working cops, as opposed to politically appointed chiefs and commissioners, know that the serialization law will be utterly useless for solving crime. I have read on the NRA site that NY and MD have had similar laws in effect for about 5 years, and not one person has yet been convicted because of the serial number on the bullet or cartridge case that the accused person allegedly fired.
All working cops, as opposed to politically appointed chiefs and commissioners, know that the serialization law will be utterly useless for solving crime. I have read on the NRA site that NY and MD have had similar laws in effect for about 5 years, and not one person has yet been convicted because of the serial number on the bullet or cartridge case that the accused person allegedly fired.
Virtually no benefit in terms of fighting crime. Criminals already steal guns and would certainly steal (or alter) ammunition. Burglaries would be encouraged. Criminals could also use shotguns, which fire pellets too small to encode, and which use shell casings made of plastic, which would be difficult to engrave. Criminals could also collect ammunition cases from shooting ranges, and reload them with molten lead bullets made without serial numbers.
FR isn’t working properly today, I would swear that I only posted my last comment once but it’s there twice.
WRONG
they will make it a crime to not turn in your pre-serialized ammo by 2011...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.