Yes, this is another gripe about what I consider a foolish law, and no, I don’t live in California, so let’s get that out of the way right now.
Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill requiring microstamping of rounds fired from a semi-automatic handgun yesterday. What this entails is placing certain information onto the firing pin of a handgun which will be transferred onto the primer of a shell casing. This information will be cross-referenced with a registry of handguns to determine where the handgun came from.
There are numerous problems with this. First, it requires that the gun stamp on the cartridge case. This is distinct from the primer, which is a component of the cartridge. For that matter, so is the bullet. Where, exactly, is the stamp supposed to be placed? The law is silent on that. So what does that mean? It means that it can be interpreted to mean anything at all. There will be an added expense to the manufacturers which will be passed onto the customers to pay for this, and who knows how long it will take to resolve this ambiguity to California’s satisfaction. In the meantime, guns tagged for this technology will not be allowed to be sold.
Second, revolvers are tacitly exempt from this because the shells do not eject. The savvy criminal will recognize this and adjust accordingly. Or maybe they’ll simply file down the markings on the firing pin, which would make the gun illegal (due to the modification of markings on a gun) but will not leave any markings. How does this affect the legal owner? Firing pins break. When they are replaced, do they have to have the same markings? If so, who will do this? If not, well, it’s easy to replace a firing pin. Is it criminal to fix your property? The law is silent.
Last, how easy would it be to go to a public range and pick up some rounds with the markings on them and scatter them roughshod at a crime scene, thus implicating an innocent man/woman in a crime? Now everybody has to pick up their brass with extraordinary care to protect themselves. A single one could conceivably get you in trouble. If the markings are on the brass, can you reload them? How can you even throw them away without concern that someone will collect a few and implicate you vis a vis identity theft?
I don’t believe that this law will be effective in catching criminals, for the reasons expressed above. It’s so easy to ignore that it will be ignored wholesale except by people who feel as I do, that laws are to be obeyed. It’s an old, tired cliche, but it nevertheless rings true: criminals do not obey laws, by definition. The Law of Unintended Consequences will almost certainly take a bite out of a few people because of this legislation. Is it worth potentially taking away the liberty of the innocent to solve some small number of crimes? That’s for you to judge. By now I’m certain you know what I think.