Posted on 10/07/2004 1:01:05 PM PDT by 45Auto
California's attorney general wants to crack down on gun violence by laser-branding all handgun bullets sold in the state with tiny identification numbers nearly invisible to the naked eye.
The controversial proposal could open the way for the next major debate over gun control in California, a state that already has some of the toughest such laws in the United States.
Attorney General Bill Lockyer is expected to discuss his proposal at a meeting on gun crime today with Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn and a citizens group, an aide said yesterday.
Under the plan, all ammunition sold in California would have a serial number etched by laser on the bullet and casing. Bullets without such micro-markings, including those from outside the state, would be barred by law, with some exceptions for sport shooters who make their own ammunition.
No other US state requires microscopic identification numbers to be etched on bullets, although similar technology is used to brand aeroplane and auto parts, backers of the proposal said.
"We think this is a very valid idea that could solve crimes quickly," said Hallye Jordan, a spokeswoman for Lockyer, one of the state's leading Democrats.
"It's something that the cops going to a crime scene involving shooting victims, once they recover the spent cartridge or bullets they can look at it right there," she said. "We have a database where they can put the number right in and then drive to the person's house whose bullets they were."
Paul Curry, a lobbyist for Ammunition Coding System, a Washington-state based firm that developed the bullet etching system, said the requirement would add about 1 cent to the cost of each bullet sold.
Ammunition manufacturers have so far resisted the technology, but he predicted that they would "race to see who can be first to market" if California mandated them to license ACS' technology.
Political consultant Chris Lehane said Democrats who control California's legislature would likely be receptive to the proposal when they resume session in January.
"I think given the politics of the state it makes a lot of sense," Lehane said.
Gun rights advocates pledged to fight the proposal, saying it would be easy for gang members and criminals to find unmarked ammunition and create a costly state bureaucracy.
California's Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger angered gun-rights advocates when he signed a bill last month banning the powerful .50 calibre rifles used by military snipers.
A spokesman for the governor could not be reached immediately for comment on Lockyer's proposal.
It'll be a snap to turn gun owners into felons with this web of insane laws.
In a way though, they're back-handedly admitting that "ballistic fingerprints" were a technological and bureaucratic dead end.
Are bullets made of different material now? How long would it take to obliterate a laser mark?
No doubt about it.
Also, think how easy it would be for a Kali-JBT to "plant" an outlawed 'pre-ban' cartridge in the house or car of a gun-owner, and use it as a pretense to confiscate ALL his guns.
Unless your a cop or one of the elites.
get punished, while someone who commits assault will get a misdemeanor
Have "outlawed" ammo will probably be a felony, punishable by 5 years for every cartridge. If there is a good side to this, it could be that a few folks looking at hundreds of thousands of years in jail, decide to add on a few offenses that could only get them 30 or 40 years each.
Of course once they tag you with a felony, there goes your RKBA, even if you move to Texas or other "gun friendly" location, the feds will see to that.
Yeah, Ashcroft and company enjoy enforcing this provision of federal law (while ignoring the 2nd amendment). They even argued in court that an American convicted in Mexico should lose his right privlidge to keep and bear arms.
It would be even worse under a Kerry administration.
And criminals will drive across the state line to buy their ammunition.
One method of banning something is to make a lot of confusing laws, which not even those charged with enforcing them can understand. This discourgages 'average citizens' from participating in whatever they are trying to ban. It's worked to some degree with the RKBA, and I expect it to spread to other areas too, like the internet.
The intent of the RAT-infested state legislature is to deny Constitutional rights
Which is a federal felony. Think the HRT will raid these bastards at o'dark-thirty?
So they'll enact hardened checkpoints on the interstate to "close the loophole".
As long as cars shimmy I'll have bullets........
And remember, Nov 19th is Kim Dutoit's National Ammunition Day. If you buy a case, and it will become useless to try to disarm us by banning or taxing bullets.
And the folks who make and sell them are our friends in this fight.
BLOAT!
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