Posted on 12/07/2009 11:47:59 AM PST by neverdem
Mary Spicuzza | 608-252-6122 | mspicuzza@madison.com
In a nutshell
Wisconsin would require new semiautomatic handguns sold or manufactured in the state to produce identifying codes on every shell they expend under a bill currently in the Legislature. The bill would require that semiautomatic handguns manufactured on or after Jan. 1, 2011 produce codes, known as a "microstamps," on their expended cartridges.
The bill would also require gun manufacturers and dealers who sell handguns that produce microstamps to disclose guns' makes, models and serial numbers to law enforcement agencies when microstamped expended shell casings are collected during criminal investigations.
It would become a misdemeanor crime to alter semiautomatic handguns in order to prevent law enforcement officers from identifying microstamps if the bill passes.
The case for it
State Rep. Leon Young, D-Milwaukee, who introduced the bill in the Assembly (AB 221), said microstamping would help solve and prevent gun violence by allowing law enforcement officers to identify firearms used in crimes. "Microstamping technology would allow law enforcement to trace a shell casing from a crime scene to the exact gun that the casing was fired from without ever having the gun in their possession," Young said during a recent public hearing. "It's like finding a gun at a crime scene."
Legislators have had public hearings on the bill but have not yet voted on it.
The case against it
Opponents said the bill would make handguns too expensive and discourage manufacturing and the selling of guns to Wisconsin gun stores. And they said microstamping is a flawed and unreliable technology.
Jim Fendry, director of the Wisconsin Pro-Gun Movement, said the microstamping bill would be costly, anti-gun legislation rooted in unproven technology. He added that markings on shells fired by handguns change because of wear. "The ones that are taken out today aren't going to match the ones that are taken out in the future," Fendry said.
To get involved
Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Corrections Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, can be reached at 608-266-5810 by e-mail at Sen.Taylor@legis.wi.gov
Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice Robert Turner, D-Racine, can be reached at 608-266-0731 or Rep.Turner@legis.wisconsin.gov.
To contact lawmakers to oppose or support the bill, use the legislative hot line, which is staffed from 8:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. weekdays, call 800-362-9472. To send an e-mail, log onto the Legislature's Web page at www.legis.state.wi.us, select Senate or Assembly, and follow the link to the e-mail directory.
I expect gun sales in Wisconsin to be very robust during 2010.
Unless they ban guns that don’t expend the cartridge, then criminals will go over to revolvers.
These Liberals really just don’t get it.
So is a modified pop bottle to collect the cartridges going to be put in the same category as using a pop bottle as a silencer?
The first thing to do after purchasing a new gun will be to disassemble it and delicately remove the microstamp with a small file. :)
I love my wheel guns.....
I’ve heard you can do nearly the same thing to foil the “ballistic signature” that’s on file for every new gun today...
It seems the other way people just file off the numbers. I would think this would work better but only for a time until the bad guys find a way to make those numbers disappear.
And spent casings at the range could cause you all sort of trouble if some dbag dropped a few at the crime scene where he used a revolver to throw the cops off the trial.
Mind numbingly stupid logic, of course, from a Democrat. You cannot prevent a crime that has already been committed. The microstamping would only tell you which firearm the shell came from, presuming the technology worked and the perp did not alter the weapon.
The legislation is aimed at discouraging firearm production in that State.
“It would become a misdemeanor crime..”
Anyone know a good file maker I could invest in?
Gun control laws only affect law-abiding citizens, whom they inhibit and inconvenience so that politicians may escape the necessity of dealing with criminal behavior, exclusive of their own.
Great, another dim govt mandated device that either won’t work or might cause the pistol to jam. Maybe that’s is, if the gun jams, then the criminal is stopped from firing his weapon. But it also applies to the homeowner.
“And spent casings at the range could cause you all sort of trouble if some dbag dropped a few at the crime scene where he used a revolver to throw the cops off the trial.”
Excellent point!
Actually, I’ve often thought that if I were going to commit some difficult, high profile crime, I would first rummage around in the dumpster of a barber shop for a handful of hair clippings to dump at the scene. (No, I’m not a criminal. But don’t you sometimes think about things like this when you’re watching some crime show?)
That just brought a smile to my face...
Said “dbag” picks up a handfull of casings at a range -
some 22lr, some 9mm, some .40, some .38, some rifle, etc
and drops them at a crime scene...
tag ...
You think some criminal is going to give a rat’s @ss whether or not it’s illegal to remove a microstamp?
Does Wisconsin have gun registration laws? Looks like this would create a defacto gun registration program as well.
When we finally get around to dismissing the US Congress, and picking up the pieces afterwards, I would support a Constitutional Amendment that spells out what the Second Amendment tried to say, in no uncertain terms.
State Legislatures ought to have the right to pass the laws that they desire within the boundaries of that State, but they ought not be able to implement these end-arounds of the Constitution by way of these clearly un-Constitutional laws.
Fine emery cloth pushed through the barrel with a cleaning rod.
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