Once again California's legislature, comprised mainly of self-serving venal political hacks, aging hippies, open borders socialists and do-gooders have confused "gun control" and "crime control" as they sent the Crime Gun Identification Act of 2007 to the Governor's desk.
And our esteemed governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, a RINO (Republican In Name Only), signed the flawed legislation into law; apparently without considering the problems inherent in this legislation.
While I am for "crime control" and have empathy for the victims and survivors of criminal acts, I also recognize the futility of "feel-good" legislation. I want our current weapons and crime legislation enforced. I strongly suggest that, if any new legislation is to be introduced, it contain provisions that would provide lengthy enhancements for those who use a weapon in the commission of a crime, not be allowed to plea bargain the offense to a lesser non-weapons crime and be required to serve their sentence in full: no time off for good behavior or parole.
The current microstamping legislation has been sponsored by the anti-gun organizations and pushed through a mostly willing legislature by special interest lobbyists. And I am positive that the various gun manufacturers and sportsman's associations will challenge this law in court.
But it is highly instructive to see what California's elected officials have wrought.
Starting with a lie... the lack of identification on internal parts does not in any way, shape or manner produce an "unsafe handgun."
"This bill, the Crime Gun Identification Act of 2007, would, commencing January 1, 2010, expand the definition of "unsafe handgun" to include semiautomatic pistols that are not designed and equipped with a microscopic array of characters that identify the make, model, and serial number of the pistol, etched in 2 or more places on the interior surface or internal working parts of the pistol, and that are transferred by imprinting on each cartridge case when the firearm is fired."
An unsafe gun is one that does not exhibits the mechanical integrity and strength to fire the appropriate cartridge, lacks a functioning safety interlock mechanism to prevent the hammer from accidentally falling on a loaded cartridge, or contains shoddy parts that can cause an accidental firing of the weapon.
Followed by the potential for a very dangerous evidentiary precedent...
According to a press release from Josh Horwitz, Executive Director, Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence...
"Currently, 45% of homicide investigations in California do not result in the arrest of a suspect, primarily because of a lack of evidence. "
"Microstamping technology was developed by Todd Lizotte and Orest Ohar at NanoMark technologies. It utilizes lasers to make precise, microscopic engravings on the breech face and firing pin of a gun. As the gun is fired, information indicating the make, model and serial number of the gun is stamped onto the cartridge as numbers and letters. The technology will greatly aid law enforcement officials in investigating homicides and other crimes by allowing them to trace firearms through cartridge casings found at crime scenes (officials will not need to recover the crime gun itself)."
The evidence in a crime scene must be examined in its totality and that no undue weight should be given to evidence that cannot be corroborated by a secondary method. This bill apparently removes the requirement to match the bullet with the weapon's barrel markings or matching the gun's tooling marks to the marks engraved on the cartridge and may simply encourage jurors to falsely consider a single microstamped cartridge found at the crime scene as the standard of proof required to convict.
Easily circumvented...
Just as the popular television show CSI has served as an instructional video for criminals who are taught to spill bleach on DNA-bearing evidence or sprinkle false hair and fiber at the crime scene, it takes only one program to teach the criminals to drop false and misleading cartridges at the crime scene.
Since tons of brass cartridges are produced each year at local firing ranges by lawful activities of sportsmen, the possibility of of an innocent man being charged with a crime rises exponentially should any of these cartridges be found at a crime scene.
And the results of university testing are inconclusive...
The University of California (Davis) study, "What Laser Machining Technology Adds to Firearm Forensics: How Viable are Micro-Marked Firing Pins as Evidence?," performed by David Howitt, PhD, Frederick Tulleners, MA, and Michael Beddow, MA, is somewhat inconclusive as the the effectiveness of the technology and suggests that more study is required. To be noted, the methodology contained a very small sample size from which no statistical conclusions can be drawn.
According to a report backgrounder supplied by the NSSF...
"Tests were performed to determine:
- The durability and longevity of an array of micro-characters laser-machined onto firing pins;
- The legibility (reproducibility and readily decipherable) of the imprint of the micro-characters on ammunition (cartridge casing); and,
- The ease with which micro-characters can be intentionally defaced or obliterated."
"The study found that micro-characters laser engraved on the ID Dynamics-supplied firing pins tested suffered varying degrees of degradation; in some cases severe degradation. "
"The markings micro-characters laser engraved onto the tip firing pins did not reliably and consistently “copy” or imprint (impress) the information onto the primer of the expended cartridge case."
The test results were also impacted by the type and brand of ammunition used in the test.
The design and normal operation/functioning of the firearm tested influenced the results, i.e. depth of firing pin indentation (impression) on the primer, whether the firearm produced “firing pin drag,” whether it produced multiple firing pin strikes on the primer that obliterated or deformed some or all of the impressions of the micro-characters on the cartridge casing."
"The technology did not work at all on rimfire firearms and ammunition, which are very common."
"The results were also impacted depending on the nature of the micro-characters laser engraved on the firing pin, i.e. alphanumeric code, a “gear code” or radial bar code."
"Notably, due to size/space limitations and the geometry of firing pins, ID Dynamics is incapable of producing alphanumeric coded firing pins with enough micro-characters to display the name of the manufacturer, the model and serial number of the firearm on the tip of the firing pin, as called for by H. 6343. The radial bar code and dot code firing pins degraded more rapidly than the alphanumeric coded firing pins and were less reliable."
"The study’s author conducted a blind test of 48 expended casings he had collected during test firings and determined the micro-characters were legible. He had other researchers who, unlike the author at the time of his examination, did not know in advance what micro-characters were present on the firing pin of the firearm used, to see if they could read the micro-characters. The results of this blind test showed that in only 20% of the time did they reach the same conclusion, establishing that subjective interpretation of the examiner is a variable impacting results."
"Importantly, the study established 'that the micro-characters could easily be intentionally destroyed' in less than 30 seconds using common household tools and objects readily available to the general public without effecting the ability of the firearm to function (the material removed from the firing pin did not shorten it to the point that the firearm would not fire)."
"The U.C. Davis study concludes: The researchers at U.C. Davis found this patented technology 'flawed' and concluded that 'At the current time it is not recommended that a mandate for implementation of this technology in all semiautomatic handguns in the state of California be made. Further testing, analysis and evaluation is required.'”
This is bad legislation that may yield unintended consequences leading to the conviction of the innocent.
What can YOU do?
Do not surrender your God-given right of self-defense to any political power. The politicians cannot assure that they can protect you and your family from criminals wherever and whenever they may strike. The politicians cannot indemnify you for loss of your livelihood when you are injured or reimburse you for your medical bills. And the politicians will not support your family when you are gone. In fact, police actions are designed to maintain "good general order" and not to prevent any singular criminal act.
Do not support politicians who ignore our current criminal statutes in favor of leniency for criminals as the California legislature has demonstrated over and over.
Demand that faulty legislation that does not and cannot work be repealed without undue delay.
Do not vote for any candidate or current politician who is willing to subvert the safety, security and sovereignty of the United States or limit an individual's right of self-defense for personal power, prestige or profits.
In the final analysis, you are responsible for protecting yourself and your family from any criminal act. You cannot rely on the police or any other person. You must take action. If this makes you uncomfortable, I strongly suggest that you take a course in self-defense. Or be prepared for the consequences of injury or death.
-- steve
A reminder from OneCitizenSpeaking.com: a large improvement can result from a small change…
The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius
Reference Links:
Assembly Bill 1471 ,Crime Gun Identification Act of 2007|California Legislature
Study on Microstamping of Guns|University of California at Davis
Get your guns now.
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Thank you for your comment. Since your message was brief, but on-topic, I have an alternate suggestion: "move to a more gun-friendly state such as Idaho where concealed carry permits can easily be had upon showing proof of training (laws of the state) and a background check."
The Supreme Court has finally agreed to hear an almost pure Second Amendment case and should they uphold the Second Amendment against Washington, District of Columbia, and their draconian gun laws, many other laws will fall by the wayside.
However, the best defense against the type of idiocy that is found in California is to remove the loony far-left legislative do-gooders who confuse crime control with gun control and elect people who know that the responsible use of weapons to save lives is built-in to our Constitution as is our inalienable right to self-defense. == steve
Posted by: Fnargy | December 19, 2007 at 04:47 AM