Calif. gun bill leads the way
By The Denver Post Editorial Board
Article Last Updated: 05/31/2007 09:06:24 PM MDT
The California state Assembly Tuesday voted to require all new semi-automatic pistols sold in the state to automatically stamp information on shell casings that could help police track down violent criminals.
The California measure, which still has to pass the state Senate, marks an intriguing new development in the war against crime because, unlike some gun-control measures, it doesn't restrict law-abiding citizens' ability to own or carry firearms. Instead, the measure would require that all new semi-automatic pistols sold in California after 2010 contain a microscopic laser etching that will stamp the gun's make, model and serial number on at least two places on the shell casing of a bullet every time the weapon is fired.
As passed by the California Assembly, the proposal would apply only to new semi-automatic pistols, not to resale of older weapons or revolvers. That's sensible because while extensive testing has shown the so-called "microstamping" works well with new weapons, a study by University of California at Davis graduate student Michael Beddow found the technology was less effective when applied retroactively to older weapons.
Perhaps more important politically, retroactively stamping existing firearms would stir up a hornet's nest of opposition from gun-rights groups, who would resist turning in their weapons to authorities, however briefly, for the procedure. Revolvers are exempt from the law because they do not automatically eject their casings.
The bill's sponsor, Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, said 2,400 homicides are committed each year in California and about 60 percent involve the use of a handgun. About 45 percent of those homicides are never solved because of lack of clues, Feuer said. Because 70 percent of the new handguns sold in California are semi-automatic pistols, the new technology, over time, would be a significant tool for law enforcement in tracing guns used in crime back to their original buyers and in cracking down on "straw buyers" who purchase guns for criminals.
Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., have said they plan to introduce microstamping bills of their own in Congress. States are the laboratory of government innovation these days, and we hope the California Senate passes the bill and that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs it. If the technique helps track down violent criminals in California, it can be adopted in other states or at the national level.
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_6031144
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Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC)
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