Posted on 02/22/2015 5:15:57 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Excerpted from Fox News: California’s gun laws are among the nation’s strictest, but a looming decision in a federal lawsuit could effectively ban handguns altogether in the Golden State, according to plaintiffs who want a judge to toss out a state law requiring all new handguns to be equipped with technology that “stamps” each shell casing with a traceable mark.
The problem with the “microstamping” law, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007 but only took effect in 2013, is that it relies on an unworkable technology, according to gun manufacturers and attorneys for the Second Amendment Foundation and Calguns Foundation. If guns without the technology can’t be sold in California, and gun manufacturers can’t implement the technology, the law is, for practical purposes, a handgun ban that violates the Second Amendment, goes the argument.
“This is about the state trying to eliminate the handgun market,” said Alan Gura, the lead attorney in Pena v. Lindley, filed on behalf of the Second Amendment Foundation and Calguns Foundation against the Chief of the California Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms. “The evidence submitted by the manufacturers shows this is science fiction and there is not a practical way to implement the law.
“At some point gun sales will cease,” he added.
California Eastern District Judge Kimberly Mueller is considering Gura’s request for her to enjoin the state from imposing a ban on the sale of new handguns based on lack of compliance with the microstamping law while the case, first filed in 2009, until the technological challenges are resolved. Although Mueller has not said when she will issue a decision, Second Amendment Foundation officials believe it could come any day.
Since the law took effect in 2013, no manufacturer has made a new firearm that complies with the requirement.Two major manufacturers, Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co., announced last year they would stop selling new firearms in the California market, and blamed the microstamping law. The technology has been demonstrated, but gunmakers say requirements that each new model, or even modification, must be re-tested for compliance makes the entire scheme unworkable.
The microstamping bill was introduced by the state lawmaker and current Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, who insists the technology is not only workable, it will make it much easier to solve gun crimes.
“When we know who bought the crime gun, that’s a significant lead for law enforcement,” said Feuer co-founder of Prosecutors Against Gun Violence.
If the law were expanded throughout the country, Feuer believes the technology could help solve the approximately 45 percent of gun crimes in the country that go unsolved.
Dr. Dallas Stout, president of the California Brady Chapters, also endorsed the law after pushing for its passage, saying it will “provide law enforcement with an important tool to track down armed criminals and help solve gun crimes.”
Both ballistic identification and microstamping systems help law enforcement investigate gun crimes because cartridge cases are much more likely to be recovered at the scene of a shooting than the gun itself, the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence maintained.
However, the theory that the law will actually help solve crimes remains untested. A spokesperson for Long Beach’s Police Forensic Sciences Services Division said the department has no such statistics because there are no firearms that actually use the technology yet. And even law enforcement authorities have wavered on whether it will work: The California Police Chiefs Association, which originally supported the legislation in 2007, changed its position in 2009.
“Publicly available, peer-reviewed studies conducted by independent research organizations conclude that the technology does not function reliably and that criminals can remove the markings easily in mere seconds,” the California Police Chiefs Association said in a letter to then state Attorney General and current Gov. Jerry Brown.
Feuer blames the gun lobby for the change in position, saying it “has engaged in an outrageous, last ditch effort to try and thwart a law broadly supported by law enforcement.”
Without action by Mueller, there will be no way for a California resident to buy a new firearm until the case is ultimately decided, perhaps by the U.S. Supreme Court, said Gene Hoffman, co-founder of Calguns Foundation.
“Any new semi-automatic gun that we want to carry for self defense or purchase as collectors will not be available to us at all,” Hoffman said. Keep reading
Microstamping will make the revolver the murder weapon of choice.
Back in 1982, the voters of California REJECTED prop 15 to ban handguns in California.
Since that day, the politicians have been working overtime trying to find ways to get around the will of the VOTERS, one bite at a time.
Now they may have succeeded.
http://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_15,_Handgun_Registration_Initiative_%281982%29
If they ever do get it to work, there are so many ways to misuse the law. For example, collect empties from anywhere and drop them after a crime.
Microstamping?
can anyone say....Service Parts?
I buy a weapon that is microstamped firing pin, etc, . I buy it, and order service parts from a myriad of sources, before I take possession, and the day I get it home, I replace the firing pin, barrel and any other part that may be microstamped.
Just have one federal judge call it unconstitutional...
can’t we use the gay marriage plan for good?
I’ll bet the law, as written, applies to revolvers as well. Makes as much sense as rest of the law.
Emry cloth. What’s that Mr ATF? Gee, I guess the stampings must have worn down to the point of being unreadable. All that practice I do at the range you see.
This assumes that the gun used in the crime was legally purchased and registered properly. If it’s stolen (most street guns are), this info and tracking is worthless.
Just polish everything up nice with a dremel tool. Just saying, mind you.
They work better if you don’t have time to pick up evidence.
Maybe but revolver don’t leave brass at the scene, which is why many discerning criminals have always chosen them
Salt...
Back in 1982, I was one of those California voters who rejected Proposition 15.
But gosh, that could be illegal! Criminals will be sad knowing they aren't allowed to remove the microstamping, as they would never do anything illegal. No, crooks always obey the law.
People who use stolen guns will just file tip of the firing pin. But of course it was never about solving crimes.
Maryland has a law for over a decade that says each new handgun sale must be accompanied with a spent shell that’s then forwarded to the state police upon purchase. The theory is that a case can be used to ID the gun and, from that, the owner.
Not one single case for any gun crime in Maryland has been able to use that connection as evidence leading to a conviction. Not one single case. There have been several cases which led investigators to an original owner, but those owners had nothing to do with the crimes.
A similar argument was used against the crack-brained push for "Ballistic Fingerprinting" (BF). Despite all the evidence against it working, it was still pushed by all the anti-gun orgs.
I'd tangle with these idiots on the newspapers comments section. My boilerplate reply was that if they believed in BF, then surely they'd support "RF" (radial fingerprinting) - take tread impressions of all five tires of every new car and use that info in solving crimes.
Never got a reply. Maybe a few of them figured out that it wouldn't work for the same reasons that doomed BF.
That’s pretty stupid, I guess the pols in Maryland aren’t aware of the fact that firing pins change their primer imprint with enough usage. Or of course, the fact that one can just buy or make a new untraceable pin.
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