CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL PROPOSES SERIAL NUMBERS FOR AMMUNITION

April 6, 2005--California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has proposed that legislation be introduced to require all ammunition sold in the state to be marked with identifying numbers.

Following an internal study on the idea by the California Department of Justice, the attorney general concluded that his proposal could work to reduce crime.

Under the attorney general's idea, manufacturers would have to microstamp a matching indentification number on each bullet and case, and also stamp that same number on the box holding the ammunition.

Buyers of ammunition would have to register each purchase, with the indentification number of the ammunition recorded by dealers, along with information about the buyers.

Police agencies would not be subject to Lockyer's proposed legislation.

A Washington state company, Ravensforge, developed the microstamping system, which utilizes lasers to engrave the numbers onto the bullets and cases. The numbers would be nearly invisible to the unaided eye.

Attorney General Lockyer has already briefed California law enforcement officials about the idea, and will introduce it at an anti-crime summit in Los Angeles.

Representatives of the gun industry have criticized the idea, saying that the additional manufacturing costs would raise the price of ammunition from pennies per round to dollars per round.

Thus, manufacturers would face the choice of having to tool up to produce ammunition specifically for California, and at an exorbitantly high cost, or distribute the "California-legal" ammunition in all states at significantly higher prices than they now charge.

A third option for manufacturers, and one which gun-rights advocates say is the most likely, is that manufacturers would simply refuse to sell ammunition in California.

Massachusetts gun owners have already experienced this phenomenon with handguns, as the state has made it unclear which handguns are legal to sell in that state. The result has been a refusal by many gun manufacturers to sell handguns to Massachusetts dealers.

Last year, California abandoned its "ballistic fingerprinting" system, which required a spent casing from every handgun sold in the state to be submitted to the Department of Justice. After having spent millions of dollars on the system, the state concluded that it was a waste of money, especially given that the system had not resulted in a single arrest.

Lockyer's system, though, would not put the cost burden onto the state, but rather onto the purchasers of ammunition.

This is not the first time that legislation has been introduced in California which would raise the cost of ammunition. In 2002, state Representative Don Perata introduced a bill which would have put a tax of five cents per round on ammunition. The bill did not pass.

Opponents of Lockyer's proposal have questioned how it will address reloaded ammunition, and predict a booming black market for reloaded ammunition amongst criminals should the proposal become law.

It is unclear at this time how much support the attorney general's proposal will enjoy in the state legislature. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has not yet commented on the idea.

However, if Lockyer is successful in having an "ammunition serial number bill" introduced, it may touch off one of the biggest gun-control battles in the country.

 

   
 

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