has the new bill been passed?

[bongfoo]

hello again all,

pardon my ignorance. i have recently heard from someone who works in the same building as me, that with some new bill or law that has been passed they will require the bullets and brass be stamped with a serial number. that could effectively eliminate reloading. or just make is VERY expensive. could someone clarify this for me? links to california state law would be appreciated.

[mike100]

sort of...there was a clause saying that there was to be a research period of technical feasibility which would last until 2020 or something...basically it is a non-issue at present. Might turn into a problem later, but many current laws are being unraveled. The whole safe handgun listing/roster is the root problem that microstamping and other restrictions are added to.

I can't comment on long term outlook, but certain rulings on the federal level may turn over some bad laws here in the coming years.

[EastBayRidge]

Comments in this post, esp. the last one, should answer your question.

[reidnez]

I don't like it, but I feel that there is much more onerous legislation being thrown around right now (HR 45 comes to mind). As I understand it, existing designs will not be affected; the 1911 or Glock 19 that you buy in 2010 will not have to be microstamped. It is more of an annoying stupidity than anything else. A U.C. Davis study showed that a large percentage of the marked cases aren't even legible. It stands to reason that criminals will learn how to file off the markings, change out the parts, or (more likely) simply avoid new handgun designs! And, of course, just because you can trace a fired cartridge back to the original legal gun purchaser does not mean you can find the criminal who actually possesses the gun.

On the other hand, if you subscribe to the "slippery slope" theory of legislation, and I do, then this still needs to be fought. I suspect that, like the NH gun registry, it will be found to be totally ineffective and simply dropped. There are much nastier laws on the horizon which we should be focusing on.