FILE: Undated: A model 1911 pistol is held in
the hands of an assembler at the Smith & Wesson
factory in Springfield, Mass.
A new gun law proponents say helps law
enforcement has driven Smith & Wesson and
Sturm Ruger out of California, and affirmed
the suspicions of firearms rights advocates
that the measure is really about making
handguns obsolete.
The two companies have announced they
will stop selling their wares in the
nation's most populous state rather than try
to comply with a law that requires some
handguns to have technology that imprints a
tiny stamp on the bullet so it can be traced
back to the gun. The companies, and many gun
enthusiasts, say so-called "microstamping"
technology is unworkable in its present form
and can actually impair a gun's performance.
“Smith & Wesson does not and will not
include microstamping in its firearms,” the
Springfield, Mass.,-based manufacturer said
in a statement. “A number of studies have
indicated that microstamping is unreliable,
serves no safety purpose, is cost
prohibitive and, most importantly, is not
proven to aid in preventing or solving
crimes.”
"This is the latest attempt to
undermine the Second Amendment in
California by politicians with
little to no knowledge of firearms
... "
- Chuck Michel, National Rifle
Association
“The microstamping mandate and the
company’s unwillingness to adopt this
so-called technology will result in a
diminishing number of Smith & Wesson
semi-automatic pistols available for
purchase by California residents.”
Southport, Conn.-based Sturm Ruger also
announced this month that they will also
stop selling their guns in California due to
the microstamping law.
Firearm microstamping, or ballistic
imprinting, works by engraving a
microscoping marking onto the tip of the
firing pin. When the gun is fired, it leaves
an imprint, usually of a serial number, on
the bullet casings. The telltale mark
theoretically allows law enforcement
investigators to trace the bullet to the
registered gun owner. California’s law is
the first in the nation to be implemented
and was originally signed into effect in
October 2007, but not implemented until
recently. Several other states are
considering similar measures.
Law-enforcement is exempt from
microstamping requirements.
Critics say tracing a bullet to a
registered gun owner does little to fight
crime, since criminals often kill with
stolen handguns. Many believe tracing
bullets was never the real intent of the law
in the first place.
"This is the latest attempt to undermine
the Second Amendment in California by
politicians with little to no knowledge of
firearms, who seek to impose their liberal
values upon those who choose to protect
their families with the constitutional right
to own a handgun," said Chuck Michel, West
Coast Counsel for the National Rifle
Association, an Adjunct Professor at Chapman
University and author of the book
"California Gun Laws."
One of the main arguments critics pose is
the claim that the technology is not
perfected, yet the requirement has been put
into effect.
“The technology doesn’t fully exist yet,
but by making it into a law, they
[California] in fact enacted a gun law
without actually passing one,” David Kopel,
a constitutional law professor at the Denver
University Sturm College of Law and Research
Director of the Independence Institute, told
FoxNews.com. “This is an indirect way to ban
new handguns from being sold.”
The patent holder of microstamping tech,
Todd Lizotte, was part of a Department of
Justice study team which concluded that,
“legitimate questions exist related to both
the technical aspects, production costs, and
database management associated with
microstamping that should be addresses
before wide scale implementation is
legislatively mandated,” according to the
study which was published in the Scientific
Journal of Forensic Firearms.
Lawsuits were also filed against the
Golden State this week by the National
Shooting Sports Foundation and the Sporting
Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute
challenging the microstamping law saying in
a statement this week that they predicted
back in 2007 when the law was first passed
that it would result in a “de facto
semiautomatic handgun ban.”
Other states considering a microstamping
requirement include Connecticut, New York,
and Massachusetts.
Smith & Wesson said it expects sales of
its California-compliant revolvers, which
aren't required to have microstamping, will
offset the impact to the company. Company
President and CEO James Debney vowed to
continue to work with industry groups to
oppose the law, while providing California
customers with products that do comply with
it.
Two trade groups, the National Shooting
Sports Foundation and the Sporting Arms and
Ammunition Manufacturers Institute, filed a
legal challenge to the law in California
Superior Court earlier this month.
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