Laser Etching ID Proposed For Handgun Ammo

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Travis McGee

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Laser Etching ID Proposed For Handgun Ammo

("Inside News" Firearms Marketing Group newsletter)
October 2004 | Denny Fallon


LASER ETCHING IDENTIFICATION PROPOSED FOR HANDGUN AMMO

If a proposal from the California Attorney General's Office is enacted, all handgun ammunition possessed in public or sold or imported into the nation's most populous state will be laser etched with an individual serial number.

TRhe high-tech tracking system would require all cartridges in a box packaged for retail sale to have matching identification numbers. The package would be scanned and the information linked to the identity of the purchaser.

The micro-stamping system used to etch the serial numbers was developed by Seattle-based Ravensforge Inc., whose technology was subjected to a successful torture test supervised by Randy Rossi, director of the firearms division of the California Dept. of Justice.

"WE TRIED TO PROVE THIS DOESN'T WORK."

Two hundred rounds were fired at close range into automobile doors, wood and concrete walls, ballistic vests, rubber matting and gelatin blocks simulating the density of human tissue. Of the 181 slugs recovered, including soft lead bullets that flattened upon impact, the etched code numbers were identified on all but one round by a standard electronic microscope.

"We tried to prove this doesn't work," said Rossi. "To have it work virtually every time, I was very surprised."

The calibers tested included 9mm, .38, .40 and .45, but not .22, the most popular sporting caliber in California and throughout the nation.

Rossi and his colleagues believe by tracking ammunition they will have a powerful and accurate weapon in identifying the source of criminal use of firearms.

"THIS WON'T SOLVE EVERY CRIME, BUT IT WILL SOLVE A LOT OF CRIMES."

Rossi emphasized that the proposal would exempt sport shooters who reload their own cartridges.

"We could get some gang bangers who all of a sudden take an interest and study reloading, but I hardly think so," said Rossi. "These are the same people who won't even bother to put a glove on when they're committing a crime. This won't solve every crime, but it will solve a lot of crmes."

GARY MEHALIK, the marketing director for the NSSF, warned that until the technology could be applied to .22 caliber ammunition it would be far from universally effective. Coupled with the estimated cost of one cent or less per etching, Mehalik was skeptical of the technology's practicality.

"We'd have to analyze teh costs," said Mehalik, "but I can tell you that it would create a logistical nightmare inside the current production systems."
 
Backdoor elimination of ammunition by prhbitive taxation. Got your number, Rossi. Poor thing for an anti to be named after a firearms manufacturer, like that Columbine loudmouth, Mauser....waste of a good name.
 
This made the rounds a month ago. It's pretty far fetched and the ammo manufacturers would probably tell CA that it is not doable. And the comment about reloaders was all the reason an informed person would need to see that this is pretty much a pie-in-the-sky idea. :rolleyes:

Having been in IT in state government, I could only imaging the time and money it would take to build a system to do this sort of tracking. I would figure at least two years with another year to do all of the updates and changes that people would come up with and the cost would run into millions of dollars. With CA's budget, you can bet that it would be next to impossible to come up with the funding and staffing to make anything like this work.
 
This is coming, in one form or the other. We need to unite and call it what it is:

"AMMUNITION REGISTRATION."
It's just back-door gun registration.

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Re-loading and casting your own bullets will be very popular, even more so than now....
 
yabbut!

Not knowing much about the production of ammo, wouldn't the serial numbers need to be inaccessible location to the user? (If the serial number is accessible to the user, what is to stop the criminals (since purportedly the "intent" is to make it easier to track the use of ammo in crimes) from removing the etching?)

(Even if it is old news, I'm curious to know how they would avoid tampering.)
 
We saw the future in Judge Dredd right? Where that guy and his wife are murdered and the bullets are DNA encoded with Dredds DNA (falsely)?

What nonsense. What technology can do, technology can undo. Need to focus on the behavior, not the artifacts.
 
Sad thing is, this technology is PERFECT for law enforcement (issue each officer ammo with their badge number on it), but LEOs will probably be EXEMPT from using it.

Just like user recognition firearms are ideal for LEOs (1/4 killed by their own gun), but seem to be pushed towards non-LEO civilians by the politicos.

Make no mistake, these measures are designed to rid citizens of ALL firearms, not make crimes easier to solve or people safer.
 
These control freaks will never give up. Fortunately, there is a way around everything.
 
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