Drizzt
Member
Bill Would Ban Sales of All Handguns Except 'Smart' Variety
By BEN NEARY | The New Mexican 02/18/2003
New Mexico should ban the sale of conventional handguns and allow the sale only of handguns designed to prevent unauthorized people from shooting the weapons, an Albuquerque legislator says.
While the gun industry has been working to develop such "smart gun" technology for years, there's no such gun on the market.
Rep. Gail Beam, D-Albuquerque, has introduced The Handgun Safety Standard Act, HB 362. It would require the state to establish a commission to promulgate handgun safety standards.
Beam's bill specifies that, within a year, the commission would have to adopt a "handgun performance standard" that specifies that "a personalized handgun must be manufactured so that it can only be fired when operated by that handgun's authorized user."
Legislation requiring such "smart guns" became law in New Jersey last month. However, the New Jersey law won't go into effect until three years after that state's attorney general certifies that such guns are safe and commercially available.
Beam's bill is scheduled for a hearing today before the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, which she chairs. She said Monday she didn't know whether any gun now manufactured would meet the authorized-user requirement.
"It's a public-health initiative because accidental death by guns is rampant in the state," Beam said Monday. She sponsored a similar bill two years ago, but it didn't become law.
Beam said her bill doesn't run contrary to the Second Amendment. "You can still own a gun," she said. "But the whole premise of the bill is that if you don't require safety standards, the industry doesn't respond.
"We regulate cars," Beam said, noting that the federal government didn't get involved in regulating automobile safety until after Ralph Nader published Unsafe at Any Speed, a book critical of the Chevrolet Corvair, in the 1960s.
Beam's bill states that people could keep conventional handguns that they already own. However, the bill seeks to prohibit people from selling, trading or transferring them, "unless the seller is not the owner of the handgun and is selling the handgun as the sales agent for a private party."
Beam's bill faces harsh opposition in the Legislature.
"It's probably not possible," said Sen. Shannon Robinson, D-Albuquerque, when asked about the prospect of the state requiring smart-gun technology. Robinson is sponsoring legislation to permit people to carry concealed handguns in the state.
House Minority Whip Joe Thompson, R-Albuquerque, said Monday he strongly opposes Beam's bill.
"This is the most objectionable piece of legislation I've seen this year," Thompson said Monday. "This is the kind of meddling in constitutional rights that should drive people crazy."
http://santafenewmexican.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=2144&dept_id=414519&newsid=7089310&PAG=461&rfi=9
I didn't realize New Mexico had such a problem with accidental gun deaths. Why the numbers must be in the hundreds or thousands for Rep. Beam to be so concerned....
By BEN NEARY | The New Mexican 02/18/2003
New Mexico should ban the sale of conventional handguns and allow the sale only of handguns designed to prevent unauthorized people from shooting the weapons, an Albuquerque legislator says.
While the gun industry has been working to develop such "smart gun" technology for years, there's no such gun on the market.
Rep. Gail Beam, D-Albuquerque, has introduced The Handgun Safety Standard Act, HB 362. It would require the state to establish a commission to promulgate handgun safety standards.
Beam's bill specifies that, within a year, the commission would have to adopt a "handgun performance standard" that specifies that "a personalized handgun must be manufactured so that it can only be fired when operated by that handgun's authorized user."
Legislation requiring such "smart guns" became law in New Jersey last month. However, the New Jersey law won't go into effect until three years after that state's attorney general certifies that such guns are safe and commercially available.
Beam's bill is scheduled for a hearing today before the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, which she chairs. She said Monday she didn't know whether any gun now manufactured would meet the authorized-user requirement.
"It's a public-health initiative because accidental death by guns is rampant in the state," Beam said Monday. She sponsored a similar bill two years ago, but it didn't become law.
Beam said her bill doesn't run contrary to the Second Amendment. "You can still own a gun," she said. "But the whole premise of the bill is that if you don't require safety standards, the industry doesn't respond.
"We regulate cars," Beam said, noting that the federal government didn't get involved in regulating automobile safety until after Ralph Nader published Unsafe at Any Speed, a book critical of the Chevrolet Corvair, in the 1960s.
Beam's bill states that people could keep conventional handguns that they already own. However, the bill seeks to prohibit people from selling, trading or transferring them, "unless the seller is not the owner of the handgun and is selling the handgun as the sales agent for a private party."
Beam's bill faces harsh opposition in the Legislature.
"It's probably not possible," said Sen. Shannon Robinson, D-Albuquerque, when asked about the prospect of the state requiring smart-gun technology. Robinson is sponsoring legislation to permit people to carry concealed handguns in the state.
House Minority Whip Joe Thompson, R-Albuquerque, said Monday he strongly opposes Beam's bill.
"This is the most objectionable piece of legislation I've seen this year," Thompson said Monday. "This is the kind of meddling in constitutional rights that should drive people crazy."
http://santafenewmexican.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=2144&dept_id=414519&newsid=7089310&PAG=461&rfi=9
I didn't realize New Mexico had such a problem with accidental gun deaths. Why the numbers must be in the hundreds or thousands for Rep. Beam to be so concerned....
