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California could become the first state in the nation to require semi-automatic handguns include microscopic equipment for pressing an identifying mark into every bullet fired. Through newly developed technology, the firing pin of a semi-automatic weapon can stamp the gun's make and model onto a bullet shell as it leaves the chamber. The technology could help police investigate homicides and trace gun trafficking. Thirty-three California police chiefs and two county sheriffs support a bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, that would require the markers. "It has the potential to solve some significant crimes in some pretty large numbers,"...

Knight Ridder Newspapers WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - California could become the first state in the nation to require semi-automatic handguns include microscopic equipment for pressing an identifying mark into every bullet fired. Through newly developed technology, the firing pin of a semi-automatic weapon can stamp the gun's make and model onto a bullet shell as it leaves the chamber. The technology could help police investigate homicides and trace gun trafficking. Thirty-three California police chiefs support a bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, a West Hollywood Democrat, that would require the markers. "It has the potential to solve some significant crimes...

Senate Bill 357 Could Ban Handgun Ammunition in California Californians Take Action NowIndustry Members Take Action NowThe California legislature is considering a bill that would require serial numbers on all handgun ammunition, including rimfire ammunition, beginning in January of 2009. This bill, introduced by Senator Joseph Dunn and strongly supported by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, is strongly opposed by SAAMI. The bill, if enacted, amounts to a de facto ammunition ban in California. Serialized ammunition would affect what is now a sophisticated, highly efficient bullet-manufacturing process that could lead to the bankruptcy of the ammunition industry in America....

..."This is nothing fancy, just simple technology," he said on a recent day, after proudly showing that the identification numbers on several slugs remained readable after the bullets were fired into a bulletproof vest. With 45% of the state's homicides unsolved in 2003, the most recent data available, the California Legislature is moving ahead with two potentially landmark measures that would require that identifying marks be embedded on projectiles from guns. One proposal would have all bullets sold in the state marked during manufacture with codes. The other would mandate that guns be equipped with stamping mechanisms that would hammer...

Local gun club members have banned on-duty state Justice Department officers from their popular Sacramento-area shooting range in a symbolic stand against Attorney General Bill Lockyer's pursuit of legislation they oppose. Lockyer's office fired back Wednesday by calling the impact minimal because most, if not all, of its Sacramento-based officers did not use the range on duty in the past year. The Folsom Shooting Club, which runs the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center in Sloughhouse, last week sent the Democratic attorney general a letter describing the ban and the group's opposition to two bills designed to trace bullets or cartridges back...

An anti-gun group in California says it is making progress on what it calls anti-crime bills. The California Million Mom March is holding "lobby day" in Sacramento on Monday -- an occasion to urge lawmakers and the governor to turn two recently passed bills into law. Those two bills include SB 357, which would require that all handgun ammunition bought and sold in California have serial numbers engraved on it. According to the California Million Mom March, "When someone buys a box of bullets, the bar code and the buyers' identification will be entered into a state Justice Department database....

SACRAMENTO – A novel proposal to etch identifying serial numbers on handgun ammunition sold in California narrowly passed the Senate yesterday, although supporters conceded the legislation remains a work in progress. The measure, Senate Bill 357, passed on a bare-majority, 21-14 vote that split along party lines, with Democrats in support. The vote sent the bill to the Assembly, which has long been the decisive battleground for gun-control initiatives. A related measure, to require manufacturers to equip some semiautomatic handguns with components that would place an identifying code on spent cartridges, passed the Assembly 41-38 and was sent to the...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Dueling proposals to identify handgun bullets to help police solve shootings were approved by state lawmakers Thursday, despite concerns the requirements are impractical or would harm law-abiding citizens. Ammunition manufacturers would be required to laser-cut each bullet with a serial number under the Senate bill, while the Assembly version requires guns to stamp identification numbers on bullet casings each time they are fired. "With a simple magnifying glass (police) can read that identifying number ... and determine who purchased that ammunition," said Sen. Joseph Dunn, D-Garden Grove, who is carrying the Senate version. "This is a tremendous...

SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers Thursday voted to require weapons manufacturers to ensure that all bullets and cartridges are branded with distinctive serial numbers. Contained in two measures that are intended to help law enforcement solve cases, the proposal would be unique among states if approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The gun industry said the proposals were impractical and would force weapons makers to either write off the huge California market or adopt practices that would greatly increase the cost of their wares. (snip) On the weapons measures, though a number of law enforcement officials backed...

STOCKTON - Could a number help police solve crimes and deter criminals? Several weeks ago, Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Garden Grove, unveiled a bill proposing the serialization of all ammunition sold in California starting in July 2007. The legislation, supported by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, is being hailed by supporters as a cost-effective way to prevent crimes and help law enforcement do its job. Opponents say the bill is rife with problems and will only increase costs to consumers and ammunition manufacturers. The proposal would require vendors to sell ammunition with an identification number zapped...

California Senate Bill 357 was recently introduced upon the prodding of Attorney General Bill Lockyer. The bill would require all handgun ammunition sold in California, including bullets used by those who reload their own brass, to bear a serial number. The serial number will be recorded upon sale to consumers into a registration system managed by the Department of Justice identifying who purchased the ammunition and what serial number they purchased. The intent of the bill is to be able to identify who purchased the ammunition, not necessarily the criminal who used the ammo in a crime. Those who possess...

LOCKYER BULLET NUMBERING PLAN DOESN'T ADD UP, SAYS CCRKBA For Immediate Release: April 27, 2005 A proposal by California's anti-gun Attorney General Bill Lockyer to require serial numbers on every handgun bullet and cartridge case sold in the Golden State is a backdoor attempt to make ammunition so cost prohibitive that it will essentially disarm law-abiding gun owners, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today. "Bill Lockyer's plan to laser-etch handgun ammunition in California is a numbers game that adds up to zero," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "This idea is being pushed...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A proposal to put a serial number on every handgun bullet passed a Senate committee Tuesday and law enforcement officials said they hoped the novel effort would spread to other states. The measure cleared the Senate Public Safety Committee Tuesday on a 4-2 vote over opposition from sportsmen, firearms dealers and manufacturers who said it is impractical and would harm law-abiding citizens. The technology now exists to laser-cut each bullet with a serial number, said Sen. Joseph Dunn, D-Garden Grove, who is carrying the bill. Police would immediately be able to trace who purchased bullets used in...