Kalifornia Bullet-Coding Scheme III: AG Approves!

Lockyer, Dunn and Perata Introduce New Legislation to Solve Gun Crimes

It may not come as a big surprise to you that California Attorney General Bill Lockyer approves of the recent "Serialization" of bullets scheme.

We've talked about how this proposition would not only make it fiscally impossible for ammunition manufacturers to provide affordable ammunition to citizens of California, but also that the bill has 'hidden' clauses which include fees, penalties (including jail terms) and registration not once, but twice.

AG Locklyer, that egrigious politician, goes along with the leftist fantasy that this bill is intended to help solve shootings; he never mentions that it essentially circumvents the Second Amendment by making it impractical for most citizens to possess ammunition which makes the defensive handgun WORK!

Locklyer has nothing new to say. His website makes typical comments such as this:

Lockyer, Dunn and Perata Introduce New Legislation to Solve Gun Crimes Measure Would Put Unique Identifiers on Each Bullet Made and Sold in California April 26, 2005 05-028 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (916) 324-5500 (SACRAMENTO) - Attorney General Bill Lockyer, Sen. Joe Dunn and Senate President pro Tem Don Perata today unveiled legislation to help law enforcement personnel solve firearms-related homicide investigations. SB 357, authored by Dunn, co-authored by Perata and sponsored by the Attorney General would create a new "bullet serialization" system that will allow investigating officers to trace bullets recovered from crime scenes to the person who purchased the ammunition. "Gang-related gun violence is one of the fastest growing concerns for communities throughout California," Lockyer said. "We are losing too many of our young people to seemingly random shootings and anonymous killers. SB 357 will strip criminals of their anonymity and give law enforcement evidence it can use to quickly and effectively solve more gun crimes." The new system would require every bullet sold or manufactured in California to be affixed with an identifier. When an ammunition vendor sells handgun bullets to a purchaser, the vendor would match the identifier on the ammunition with the purchaser, and then log the match into an electronic database run by the Attorney General's Office. When a bullet is recovered from a crime scene where a firearm is used, law enforcement investigators will be able to check the bullet for the identifier and match it with a purchaser. "With the passage of SB 357, California will bring law enforcement investigative tools into the modern age," Dunn said. "This system will be an important new tool to help law enforcement personnel identify and convict violent felons and murderers." In 2003, over 72 percent (1,733) of California homicides were committed with a firearm. Almost 45 percent of these homicides were unsolved. Additionally, 63,597 robberies were reported in 2003, with armed robbery accounting for 53.9 percent (34,252) of these crimes. A firearm was used in 64.7 percent (22,161) of all armed robberies. Only 27.1 percent of robberies were solved in 2003. "SB 357 offers crime scene investigators a valuable new tool to help solve and deter crimes," Perata said. "Numbers on bullets mean criminals off streets." Specifically, SB 357 does the following: Requires all handgun ammunition manufactured or sold in California to be marked with a unique identifier. The identifier would then be associated with the purchaser of the handgun ammunition at the point of sale and maintained in an electronic database run by the Attorney General's Office. Requires all vendors and manufacturers who conduct handgun ammunition sales in the state to register with the Attorney General's Office. Assesses vendor and end-user fees to pay for the costs of the program. Creates criminal and civil penalties for individuals and corporations who circumvent the requirements of SB 357. A graphic representation of how bullet serialization works and photos of serialized bullets fired into car doors can be found here.

The one NEW thing is the link provided in the quote, which takes you to a PDF (which loads VERY slowly!) and shows us his view of a "serialized" bullet. I've included the essential view here.



Perhaps the most interesting thing we see here is that the demonstration bullet has purportedly been fired against a hard surface, deformed by the impact, yet the serial number is still readily readable.

The information he does NOT provide includes:

• the caliber of the bullet (hence, the surface area shown)
• any management of he number of digits in the serial, which would need to be much longer in order to be practical considering the large number of ammunition manufacturers in this country ... assuming that more than, say TWO of them still try to market ammunition in this state!
• the technology, and the production process changes, which ammunition manufacturers would have to adopt in order to effect the "serialization".
• the REAL cost of serialized bullets
• the 'hidden' clauses in the law which allow the AG office to retain firearms sales records

It's redundant to continue this list. Most of the objections have already been listed in excruciating detail on this forum, and you can go back to earlier comments to read them. (Note that this announcement by the AG is dated April 26, 2005.)

The REAL danger in this state law is that if California can fool their voters into thinking that it's reasonable, there's no reason to expect that otherGunGrabber states won't adopt the same or similar law.

It's not a California problem. It's a National problem.
If YOU live in California, I urge you to tell your State Assemblyman that this is a BAD law, and it will not accomplish the goals it purports to address.

They won't listen to a Geek from Oregon.