SMITH & WESSON to Leave California Market Due to New Semi-Automatic Regulations

The Gateway Pundit ^ | 1-23-2014 | Jim Hoft

[servo1969]

Gun maker Smith and Wesson announced this week it would cease selling in California due to the state’s new semi-automatic regulations. Smith and Wesson has been around since the mid 1800s. Breitbart reported:

On January 22nd renowned gun maker Smith & Wesson joined Sturm, Ruger, & Co., by announcing it would cease California sales of its semi-automatic pistols due to microstamping requirements that went into effect last year.

Ruger made the same announcement earlier this month.

Microstamping is a requirement that each firearm be fitted with a special firing pin that leaves a fingerprint on a bullet casing which differs from the fingerprint of every other firearm. In other words–every one of the wildly popular Smith & Wesson M&P .45 semi-automatic handguns would have to be manufactured in such a way so that no two of them left the same mark on a shell casing.

The cost of doing this would be incredibly high to manufacturers, and would be a cost they would have to pass on to consumers in higher prices.

Moreover, the result of doing this would be yet another gun registry–every gun sold that met microstamping requirements would have be to registered so that the government knew who owned the gun that left that fingerprint.

On top of these things, micropstamping doesn’t even work–and least not all the time. There are proven problems with the durability of microstamps on firing pins.

So The Washington Times reports that Smith & Wesson is just going to stop selling guns in CA for which microstamping is required.

[servo1969]

Background: Microstamping is a proposed means for imprinting unique serial numbers onto cartridges fired from a gun. Similar to “ballistic fingerprinting,” it allegedly helps police identify what firearm might have been used in a crime. Microstamping uses precision equipment to remove microscopic amounts of metal from the tip of the firing pin.

Myth: Independent testing by forensic technologists shows the technology is reliable

Fact: Firing pins are readily removable and swappable in most models of handguns, and with inexpensive replacement parts. Criminals who file down serial numbers on the sides of guns won’t hesitate to file or exchange firing pins.

Fact: 46% of impressions ranked as “unsatisfactory” (i.e., illegible) after only ten rounds. 1

Fact: Reloaded ammo (which is extremely common due to the economics of recycling casings and home reloading tools) will make prosecuting cases nearly impossible once the “reloaded ammo” defense is raised (for microstamping that imprints case sides). A case may have two or more markings, making the final shooter impossible to identify.

Myth: Filing the firing pin will make the gun inoperable

Fact: Firing pins are designed to be pushed deeply into the primer (igniter) of the round. The depth of the engraving (approximately 0.005 inch) 2 is vastly smaller than the tolerance of the firing pins drive depth.

Fact: In a test, the engravings were removed using a 50-year-old knife sharpening stone in less than a minute. The firearm still operated correctly after the filing. 3

Myth: The cost per firearm will be cheap

Fact: The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the representative for firearm manufactures, estimates the cost will be upwards of $150 per firearm, more than tripling the price of self-protection and making it unaffordable for low-income people. 4 The Brady Campaign dispute those with firearm manufacturing experience claiming micro-stamping would cost only 50¢? Myth: The numbers will let police find the gun’s owner and help solve crimes

Fact: Since many crime guns are stolen property, 5 finding the original owner does not help solve the crime.

**********************

1 NanoTagTM Markings From Another Perspective, George G. Krivosta, Suffolk County Crime Laboratory, Hauppauge, New York, Winter 2006 edition of the AFTE Journal
2 NanoTagTM Markings From Another Perspective, George G. Krivosta, Suffolk County Crime Laboratory, Hauppauge, New York, Winter 2006 edition of the AFTE Journal
3 NanoTagTM Markings From Another Perspective, George G. Krivosta, Suffolk County Crime Laboratory, Hauppauge, New York, Winter 2006 edition of the AFTE Journal
4 Etched bullets interest law enforcement, The Record, September 25, 2006
5 Armed and Considered Dangerous, U.S. Department of Justice, 1986

www.gunfacts.info/gun-control-myths/microstamping/

What liberals are expecting to see on every fired primer.

Reality.

[Iron Munro]

California wins.

[CA Conservative]

I hope they also refuse to sell to any CA law enforcement agencies as well...

[Chickensoup]

No Smith and Wesson Wins. They are no longer in a foreign country.

[Da Coyote]

Another sterling example of the well known fact that science and engineering are not very friendly to liberals.

(It’s almost circular logic, isn’t it? Obviously, one versed in logic and mathematics shouldn’t descend into the mental weakness and moral morass of liberalism.)

[Mouton]

Let me know when the LMO patriot leaves that hell hole.

[dirtboy]

The law is working as intended.

[circlecity]

Won’t this also just encourage criminals to switch to revolvers so they don’t leave any marked cartridges at the scene?

[Obadiah]

First, micro-stamping has zero deterrent or other effect in cases such as Columbine, Newtown, Virginia State, and other instances where deranged people lash out at society.

Second, it won't be long until the black market starts to figure things out.

In the end, the fascist leftists will have gained nothing.

[Iron Munro]

No Smith and Wesson Wins. They are no longer in a foreign country.

That's a nice thought.

But the truth is that the California liberals succeed in chipping away at the 2nd amendment, restricting constitutional guarantees, and making firearms less available with this round-about, back door method of gun control.

[mrsmel]

I was just about to say, I hope that includes all government agencies as well.

[Yo-Yo]

There is a microstamping exception for Law Enforcement. If the technology is so valuable to law enforcement to solve crimes, wouldn’t the same technology be valuable in investigating police shootings as well?

[mabarker1]

All I see is marks on the PRIMER not the CASE so the easy fix is deprime the case.

And if somebody will go to that then even simpler is put a catch bag on the gun and take your spent case/primer with you.

[molson209]

When will you be required to pickup your fired Projectiles ?

[ealgeone]

that’s what i was thinking. now only 49 states allow the sales of firearms without problems.

watch for other lib controlled worker paradises to enact this. their argument will be, “you can still buy a gun so your 2A right isn’t being infringed. the microstamp helps identify who the “bad” guy is in a crime...which is what all “reasonable” people want. right?”

it’s the chipping away process.

[Fido969]

I hope they also refuse to sell to any CA law enforcement agencies as well...

If these gunds need to be manufactured by a special company and cost $10,000 a piece, so what? The taxpayers will take it in the shorts.

[absalom01]

That would be the honorable thing to do...but they have worked hard to get the LA County Sheriff contract, and are seeking contracts with other agencies.

The right thing to do would be to follow in Ronnie Barrett’s footsteps: refuse to sell or service any pistol not available to the general public in California.

[Don Corleone]

S & W goes Galt!

[Antihero101607]

“I hope they also refuse to sell to any CA law enforcement agencies as well...”

I would find it more amusing if any firearms manufactured and sold, specifically AR pattern rifles were CA compliant, bullet button and all.

[hattend]

All the gun manufacturers should refuse to sell guns to California state/county/city gov’t agencies.

Disarm the commie bastards!