Hey, everyone needs a hobby.
Posted on 10/29/2004 9:29:52 PM PDT by Travis McGee
LASER ETCHING IDENTIFICATION PROPOSED FOR HANDGUN AMMO
If a proposal from the California Attorney General's Office is enacted, all handgun ammunition possessed in public or sold or imported into the nation's most populous state will be laser etched with an individual serial number.
TRhe high-tech tracking system would require all cartridges in a box packaged for retail sale to have matching identification numbers. The package would be scanned and the information linked to the identity of the purchaser.
The micro-stamping system used to etch the serial numbers was developed by Seattle-based Ravensforge Inc., whose technology was subjected to a successful torture test supervised by Randy Rossi, director of the firearms division of the California Dept. of Justice.
"WE TRIED TO PROVE THIS DOESN'T WORK."
Two hundred rounds were fired at close range into automobile doors, wood and concrete walls, ballistic vests, rubber matting and gelatin blocks simulating the density of human tissue. Of the 181 slugs recovered, including soft lead bullets that flattened upon impact, the etched code numbers were identified on all but one round by a standard electronic microscope.
"We tried to prove this doesn't work," said Rossi. "To have it work virtually every time, I was very surprised."
The calibers tested included 9mm, .38, .40 and .45, but not .22, the most popular sporting caliber in California and throughout the nation.
Rossi and his colleagues believe by tracking ammunition they will have a powerful and accurate weapon in identifying the source of criminal use of firearms.
"THIS WON'T SOLVE EVERY CRIME, BUT IT WILL SOLVE A LOT OF CRIMES."
Rossi emphasized that the proposal would exempt sport shooters who reload their own cartridges.
"We could get some gang bangers who all of a sudden take an interest and study reloading, but I hardly think so," said Rossi. "These are the same people who won't even bother to put a glove on when they're committing a crime. This won't solve every crime, but it will solve a lot of crmes."
GARY MEHALIK, the marketing director for the NSSF, warned that until the technology could be applied to .22 caliber ammunition it would be far from universally effective. Coupled with the estimated cost of one cent or less per etching, Mehalik was skeptical of the technology's practicality.
"We'd have to analyze teh costs," said Mehalik, "but I can tell you that it would create a logistical nightmare inside the current production systems."
No. However, every effort should be used to be sensitive to the objections of gun rights advocates.
Well then, there you have it. No, it doesn't. But they'll be "sensitive" to our concerns.
Did the AWB violate the Second Amendment? No, but they were sensitive to our concerns. Would a ban of all semiautomatic shotguns and rifles, and all handguns of every style, violate the Second Amendment? No, but they will be sensitive to our concerns when they enact it.
The information that retailers obtain about the bullet purchaser should not be available to anyone but law enforcement.
What business does LE have knowing who owns what? If the purpose of the Second Amendment is to repel tyranny in government, then giving the government any say or visibility into the process is a conflict of interest.
Is that the actual quote? I love it!
Hey, everyone needs a hobby.
if you can't eliminate something, you can still tax it. coming soon: ammo with id chips.
nahhh. just the registration numbers of a few million gun owners.
I doubt it since "Rossi" Firearms are made in Brazil, not Italy.
Randy Rossi is not a good guy. When the CA pro CCW groups attempted to get the CA-DOJ records regarding the CCW applications and favoritism, Rossi destroyed the records. Rossi may well be one of the lawyers that belonged to the law firm in San Francisco that was shot up by a real estate broker using Tech-9's and "Hellfire" trigger. A number of these lawyers, from this law firm, are in the CA-DOJ and are dedicated to getting rid of all firearms in California.
If laser marking of factory ammo becomes fact, you will need to license your re-loader and buy only laser marked projectiles. The thugs will be casting their own bullets from wheel balancing weights.
The idea is to grab the guns. This links the guns to the one that has them. It's a feel good registration scheme con. It's a;so a jobs program for that WA marking firm.
Let me try CJ and the following stupid, sheeple, socialist, let the government rule the people answer.
If a person is proud to responsibly stand up and have the world know where his own ammo ended up being lodged in, then he shouldn't have a problem.
Got that right
L
(CJ)
Who commits the vast majority of "unsolved" shootings ?
---->Gangbangers
How will this legislation help?
gangbangers can't travel to AZ or NV to buy/steal their ammo?
.......will fear being caught w/ unapproved ammo (but not illegal arms) ?
Another "solution" that won't.
Yo Bill, try not to be so continuously STUPID
Exactly. It's the criminalization of shooting by degrees, through the back door: AMMO.
Ever belong to a book club?
I once opened a box of 9mm Largo, only to find a .40 round inside, with a nickel plated case (the Largo ammo was in brass). Don't tell me, anyone, that foul-ups with identical looking ammo of the same caliber can't occur.
The bottom line is: do you want to trust your life as you know it to the veracity of the records? Not me. No way.
And this is if (as if!) there would be no other downside to this.
Criminals would not purchase ammo under these conditions, they would steal it, manufacture it, bring it in from offshore. Everyone who was a victim of theft would be a victim twice, once when their ammo was stolen, and again, when faced with charges for the crime the bullet was recovered from.
This would require, perhaps by law, elaborate measures to safeguard your ammo, either at your expense, or at a 'central storage facility' where you could keep your ammo and go check it out for the weekend to go shooting.
THis has diddley sh!t to do with crime solving, it is about gunOWNER control. It is a wonderful theory gone insane: the 'What if?' won't fly in the real world.
We know that if criminals can import tons of Cocaine and other drugs, and weapons which are already illegal, a few pallets of ammo (machine parts) should be no problem. The result will be an underground criminal logistics chain more sophisticated than the comparitively loose ones which exist now, and more monolithic in nature after a period of 'adjustment'. That adjustment would be predictably fraught with enough violent episodes as local rivalries are sorted out to bring even greater pressure on law-abiding gun owners to give up their pre-tag ammo.
While I don't have vast stockpiles by any standard, I would hate to lose my meager investment in semi-precious metal, and would hate even more to have my family terrorized and home wrecked while law enforcement agents of any stripe tore out the walls looking for a hidden stash. This is open and relatively uninhabited country here, with rockpiles (the one sure crop in glaciated terrain) every 20 acres or so, and it would be d@mned tough to prove that you don't have a cache in an old car or planted in the rocks somewhere.
The end result would be that LEAs would spend more time scrutinizing us, and less time than ever on criminals.
You've nailed it.
Each "unregistered ammunition transfer" will be a felony. The ATF will LOVE having so many new gun felons to investigate and arrest. They'll need to double the size of the ATF! Think of the budget increases! Yipee!
I'm sure Cultural Quisling has reported this thread to the gun gestapo.
If it begins in Cali, then MD, NY, NJ, IL etc will adopt it in a year. Then all the "blue states." Then the rest.
Cops will be exempted, you know that!
Yes, it is your problem. It's a problem for everyone in the shooting community. To say it's not is like someone saying "oh that AWB ban is just fine with me, as long as they don't come for my Marlin .30-30 (yes, I know the AWB has eclipsed...for now).
Any infringement on the 2d Amendment is a problem for us all, no matter if we shoot "ugly guns", pistols, hunting rifles, black powder, or regardless if we load out own or buy ammo over the counter. We will either stand together or hang alone.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
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