glockman19
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A special thanks to everyone who called and wrote the Gov. of CA on SB 1471. although our efforts appear to be in vain You all deserve a special thanks for calling writing & e-mailing.
I WARNED EVERYONE that if it passes it would soon come to YOUR STATE. Here it is:
Similar federal legislation is being drafted by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat and a Schwarzenegger in-law.
NOW I HOPE everyone who didn't call write or e-mail will get up off your Duff and start NOW to address this issue with your local representatives.
I WARNED EVERYONE that if it passes it would soon come to YOUR STATE. Here it is:
Similar federal legislation is being drafted by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat and a Schwarzenegger in-law.
NOW I HOPE everyone who didn't call write or e-mail will get up off your Duff and start NOW to address this issue with your local representatives.
Linking ammo, weapon it was fired from is goal
By James P. Sweeney and Michael Gardner
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
October 14, 2007
SACRAMENTO – Delivering a top priority of the gun-control movement, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation yesterday requiring that new models of semiautomatic handguns sold in California be able to stamp identifying serial numbers on shell casings.
In a surprise move, he also signed a bill banning lead ammunition in the sprawling range of the endangered California condor.
The handgun-ID law will enable police to link spent shells to the gun that fired them, and could make California a testing ground for the process known as “microstamping.”
No other state or nation uses the technology, which etches codes on internal gun components such as firing pins that stamp the numbers on shell casings when they are fired.
“While I appreciate and understand that this technology is not without limitations, I am signing this bill to provide law enforcement with an additional tool for solving crimes,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement. “I encourage all stakeholders to work on improving this technology.”
Sam Paredes of the Gun Owners of California said Schwarzenegger may have become “the most anti-gun governor in California history.”
Paredes noted that Schwarzenegger, a Republican, approved a ban on .50-caliber rifles three years ago.
Supporters of the legislation contend that with semiautomatic handguns the weapon of choice for most violent criminals, microstamping could help detectives crack hundreds of homicides that go unsolved every year.
AdvertisementHandguns are used in more than 60 percent of California's homicides, and about 70 percent of handguns sold in the state are semiautomatics, state records show.
Although proponents say the law could have a long-term impact on crime, it will have a delayed application. The legislation covers only those new or retooled semiautomatics approved for sale in the state after Jan. 1, 2010.
That excludes nearly 1,300 different semiautomatic handguns already approved for sale in California. Revolvers, which do not discharge spent casings, are not covered under the measure.
Assemblyman Mike Feuer, cq a Los Angeles Democrat cq who carried Assembly Bill 1471, said microstamping “has the potential to revolutionize the investigation of shooting incidents involving handguns.”
“This new law will put California at the forefront of forensic technology and could signal a catalytic change across the nation,” Feuer said.
Similar federal legislation is being drafted by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat and a Schwarzenegger in-law.
Feuer carried the bill for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a leading national gun-control group. The measure drew stiff opposition from the National Rifle Association and the firearms industry, which had warned that the technology was untested, unreliable and expensive.
Retooling the manufacturing process could add up to $200 to the price of each gun, warned Larry Keane of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association of the firearms industry. Supporters said the identifying parts could be added for as little as $1 to $2 per gun.
“Manufacturers are not going to comply with this no matter how much they improve the technology,” said Paredes of the Gun Owners of California. “They are simply going to stop selling any new semiautomatics in the state.”
More than 65 sheriffs and police chiefs, including San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne, supported the bill. It drew opposition from a number of sheriffs from largely rural counties.
The condor legislation prohibits hunters from using lead bullets in broad swaths of the endangered bird's range, mostly along the coast from Santa Barbara to Big Sur. It takes effect July 1.
In addition to the gun lobby, leaders of the governor's appointed Fish and Game Commission urged Schwarzenegger to veto the bill.
“The governor listened to the science and stood on the side of preservation over politics,” said Assemblyman Pedro Nava, a Santa Barbara Democrat who carried Assembly Bill 821.
California becomes the first state in the nation to independently impose a ban on lead ammunition in hunting. There is a national prohibition on using lead shot to shoot waterfowl.
“No state anywhere in the country has taken a bold move like this,” said Adam Keats of the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group.
Schwarzenegger had not been expected to sign the ban, after he removed a Fish and Game commissioner who Republican lawmakers believed supported the condor legislation.
Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor, said the firing of R. Judd Hanna had nothing to do with the commissioner's views on the issue.
The governor signed the bill because “it is the right policy to support the condor population,” McLear said.
Assemblyman Nava, who had pushed the issue for the past three years, said Schwarzenegger stared down the National Rifle Association – “one of the most powerful special interests in the state.”
Environmentalists and biologists warned that condors can be poisoned by scavenging on lead-laced remains of animals killed by hunters. At least 12 of the rare birds have died in the past decade from lead poisoning, researchers said.
The bill “is an important first step in getting lead out of the food chain,” Keats said.
Hunters had argued that studies are inconclusive, that replacement ammunition is expensive and hard to find, and that voluntary programs to bury or remove carcasses should be given time to work.
The legislation does provide an exemption for some weapons where there is no readily available alternative ammunition.
The Fish and Game Commission, which has been wrestling with the lead bullet issue for some time, is expected to adopt final regulations for the ban by the end of the year.
The decisions on the two firearms-related bills give Schwarzenegger a strong record on high-profile gun-control measures that have reached his desk since he was elected in 2003. But he has vetoed measures to restrict Internet sales of ammunition and impose fines for failing to report lost or stolen handguns.
