K-Romulus
Member
Here's a peek at what's coming down the pike, courtesy of Ted Kennedy and some other guy - a Federal microstamping law. Once again, those who say "Cali brings it first - y'all are next" are proven right.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051801335.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051801335.html
Bullet Cartridges Could ID Criminals
By ERICA WERNER
The Associated Press
Friday, May 18, 2007; 7:10 PM
WASHINGTON -- Gun shots rang out in a House office basement Friday as a Capitol police officer fired a semiautomatic pistol into the chest of a man-sized paper silhouette. Had the paper target been a real victim, and Capitol Police Sgt. William P. Siko a criminal, investigators might have found enough evidence for a conviction in the bullet cartridges left at the scene, gun control advocates said.
Siko helped demonstrate for lawmakers a technique called "microstamping," whereby identifying information from a gun is transferred onto bullet cartridges.
Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., arranged for Friday's demonstration in a basement firing range in the Rayburn House Office Building. He and Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., are crafting a microstamping bill that aides said has law enforcement support.
"A month ago we saw the reason we need to take action," Becerra said, referring to the Virginia Tech massacre April 16.
"There are ways we can reduce gun violence in America in a smart way, in an effective way and a way that doesn't infringe on anyone's personal ownership rights," he said.
Becerra is modeling his legislation on a bill in the California Assembly that would require semiautomatic pistols to be equipped with microscopic characters identifying make, model and serial number.
These characters would be imprinted onto each cartridge case when the gun is fired, allowing investigators to trace cartridges to a particular gun.
Proponents from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence said this would cost manufacturers only between 50 cents and $1 per firearm. They said that in many homicides _ 45 percent in California _ no arrest is made because of lack of evidence.
But the gun lobby opposes the approach, and even after Virginia Tech congressional Democrats have shown little appetite for gun control legislation, which has proven a political loser in the past.
National Rifle Association Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre said that criminals could alter guns or find other ways to evade microstamping.
"It's all federal cradle to grave regulation that spends a huge amount of taxpayers' money and counts on the criminals' cooperation," LaPierre said.