New York Micro-Stamping Legislation Passes Assembly Committee [View All]

Thursday, May 5th, 2011 at 3:56 PM

FAIRFAX, Va. --(Ammoland.com)- On May 3, Assembly Bill 1157 passed in the Assembly Codes Committee by a vote of 15 to 7 and will now head to the Assembly floor for consideration.

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A1157 would require all semi-automatic pistols delivered to any licensed firearms dealer in New York for sale after January 1, 2013, to mechanically stamp an alpha-numeric or geometric code that would identify the make, model and serial number onto the cartridge case when the gun is discharged.

This bill would require models currently available to be redesigned by their manufacturers to have a micro-stamping component, which would vastly increase the cost of these firearms.

Micro-stamping is an unproven technology that is easily defeated with common household tools and the replacement of a few small parts. If passed, the availability of semi-automatic handguns in New York will be in serious doubt, as manufacturers simply may choose not to build or sell firearms for purchase in the state. Of course, that is the ultimate goal of this legislation. Make no mistake, this is a gun ban and it must be stopped.
http://www.ammoland.com/2011/05/05/new-york-micro-stamping-legislation-passes-assembly-committee/

Firearm microstamping

Firearm microstamping, ballistic imprinting and ballistic engraving are all names given to a controversial<1> technology that has been developed with the goal of aiding in ballistics identification; it involves the use of laser technology to engrave a microscopic marking onto the tip of the firing pin and onto the breech face of a firearm. When the firearm is fired, these etchings are transferred to the primer by the firing pin and to the cartridge case by the breech face, using the pressure created when a round is fired. After the spent cartridges are ejected, these microscopic markings are imprinted on the cartridges, which can then be recovered by police and examined by forensic ballistics experts to obtain information to be used to trace the firearm through its life to the registered owner.<2> This technology will be required in California starting in 2010, however, law enforcement is specifically exempt.<3>


Controversy

In general, groups that support gun control legislation generally favor requiring ballistic imprinting on all new firearms, while groups supportive of gun rights and the Second Amendment generally oppose any legal requirement for ballistic imprinting technology. Since the technology is unproven with large scale implementation, there are no reliable statistics to substantiate how useful the process might really be to law enforcement or that it would in any way hurt these same efforts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_microstamping