Does California require microstamping?

[Dr_B]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/washington-feels-heat-act-gun-control-article-1.1222407

California, for example, requires microstamping, which puts a miniscule serial number on every bullet everytime a gun is fired — and allows law enforcement to trace weapons from spent shell casings.

The quote is from the article found at the link above. I've heard about the possibility of microstamping, but has California already put it into effect?

 

[Deus Machina]

It's a law in the books, but hasn't been implemented yet.
Because there's no way to reliably do it yet.

 

[Twiki357]

As far as I know, YES, it is required by law in California. However, the requirement has been suspended/postponed because microstamping does not exist.

 

[Zoogster]

Yes it is California law, signed into law by Arnold Schwarzenegger in October 2007.

It has been on hold primarily if I recall because it is currently a technology held by a single patent holder. (A patent holder that pushed strongly to get the legislation passed in several places around the nation before succeeding in California.)
The law is essentially waiting for them to relinquish thier right to the patent, or for it to expire.

 

[Librarian]

The precise language is

... provided that the Department of Justice certifies that the
technology used to create the imprint is available to more than
one manufacturer unencumbered by any patent restrictions.

See the Calguns Foundation Wiki article -- http://wiki.calgunsfoundation.org/The_Safe_Handgun_List

 

[mgkdrgn]

Yes, it's rather like the Department of the Navy issuing an order that "there will be NO rust"