You should see our handgun microstamping bill that our public safety commitee has. It affects **ALL** handguns. Yup. Revolvers. Muzzleloading pistols. Cap and Ball. Self loaders. In NJ, a handgun, is a handgun. No if's, and's, or but's about it.(He also posted the information on the [www.newjerseyhunter.com] New Jersey Hunter forum.)
Of course I had to follow it up, if only because (a) it was a guest comment and (b) we spent a lot of time reading about MicroStamping last year. Bedsides
Sure enough, New Jersey's Assembly Bill #3848, in the 213th legislative session (March, 2009) presented this bill.
Now March 9 seems a bit late in the legislative session to present a controversial new anti-gun bill, and I don't know how long the session lasts. But here's the search results on this bill number, which shows a comparable senate bill S498 introduced on January 8, 2008 --- which was described as "PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2008 SESSION".
Here's the 'statement' on S498:
This bill would require that all newly manufactured handguns sold by licensed retail firearms dealers be micro-stamped.
Micro-stamping is a laser technology that can engrave or etch minute identifying characters or letters on small, even exceptionally small, objects or items. In the case of a handgun, these engravings or etchings would be placed on the firing pin of the handgun in a manner to ensure their imprinting on each cartridge case when the handgun is fired. The array of characters or imprints on the cartridge could then be utilized by law enforcement to identify the make, model and serial number of the handgun.
The bill requires licensed retail firearms dealers to report their handgun sales to the State Police. The information required in this report is substantially the same information these dealers currently record in a sales register they are statutorily required to maintain. The bill directs the State Police to establish and maintain this information in a data base.
The verbiage on the Assembly is similar, if not identical.
There is nothing new in either the 1/8/08 Senate bill, or the 3/9/09 Assembly bill. While I haven't bothered to compare the two bills to determine whether one has more restrictions than the other, my experience has been that within a given state in which a "microstamping ammunition" bill occurs in both the Senate and the Assembly (or "House") generally they're both reading from the same playbook. Also, that playbook has been provided by the same external source, whether Gun Control NGO's, or the company which purports to provide the technology to support the bill ... at great expense, and with unproven reliability. But I digress.
Looking at the NJ Legislature BILLS BY COMMITTEE, I'm unable to determine the status of either the Senate or the Assembly bill. I haven't yet determined when the NJ Legislative Session ends, although the official website does not list 2009-2010 bills, which implies that the 'next' session has not begun. (Typically, State Legislative Sessions roughly parallel their Fiscal years. Bills which have not been acted upon, or which remain "in committee", tend to fail by default. They may be introduced in the next legislative session, but that requires that they go through the entire process of legislative review.)
I see no evidence that this bill has enjoyed any activity in either NJ house, and so I assume that it will die.
Probably, there has been so much effort in attempting (successfully) to pass Governor Corzine's pet anti-gun bill limiting individual firearm purchases to one-per-month, the Legislature has decided to put all of its anti-gun energy there and ignore all other anti-gun bills for the current (2008-2009) legislative session.
Still, that doesn't mean that New Jersey (or other stages) are giving up on Microstamping Ammunition entirely. In a July 26, 2009 article, NJ.COM "Real Time News" reports that
"Corzine calls for tougher gun control laws"
Gov. Jon Corzine convened a press conference today with his running mate and several Democratic allies to call for additional reforms.
...
The governor also is likely to stoke the ongoing debate between gun-control advocates and gun rights groups in New Jersey, where regulations are among the strictest in the nation, with his microstamping proposal.
Corzine called for the mandatory microstamping of new semi-autmoatic handguns, an emerging technology in which lasers inscribe numbers on firing pins. That means spent casings show a serial number that law enforcement can trace.
A bill introduced in the Assembly March and currently in committee calls for new handguns to be microstamped. The procedure has been adopted by one state, California, and is under consideration by several others. [CGE Note: it's news to me that California has made this law!]
Again, as of 2 weeks ago the Microstamping bill was in committee. That doesn't mean it's going to be passed, but it doesn't mean that it won't come up again.
On the other hand, in 2007 - 2008 Cogito Ergo Geek (CGE) has apparently underestimate the political "will to do harm" at the state level.
Still, regardless of the notions of the Main Stream Media, the latest OFFICIAL news from the Golden State suggest that the California bill AB1471 (introduced) status has not yet become 'enacted to law'.
I may be confused by the similarity of bill titles, or others may be confused by a blogger article dated February of 2009, which states that:
"One thing that has had many Californians fearful for their continued 2nd Amendment rights is the signing into law of AB 1471, Crime Gun Identification Act of 2007, effective January 1, 2010.
This law requires that new concealable weapons to have a means of imprinting the make, model, and serial number of the weapon on cartridge cases fired by that weapon.
The text of the law may be found here."
But the cited link (see above) refers to AB1471 of the 2007-2008 Legislative Session.
As nearly as I can tell, the AB1471 for the 2008-2009 Legislative session refers to materials procurement for the Los Angeles MTA:
COMPLETE BILL HISTORY
BILL NUMBER : A.B. No. 1471
AUTHOR : Eng
TOPIC : Procurement: Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transportation Authority.
TYPE OF BILL :
Active
Non-Urgency
Non-Appropriations
Majority Vote Required
Non-State-Mandated Local Program
Fiscal
Non-Tax Levy
BILL HISTORY
2009
July 9 Read second time, amended, and re-referred to
Com. on APPR.
July 8 From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended, and
re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation:
To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (July 7).
July 1 In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
June 29 In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
June 4 Referred to Com. on T. & H.
May 21 In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS.
for assignment.
May 21 Read third time, passed, and to Senate.
(Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1631.)
May 18 Read second time. To Consent Calendar.
May 14 From committee: Do pass.
To Consent Calendar. (May 13).
May 5 Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
May 4 Read second time and amended.
Apr. 30 From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended, and
re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation:
To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 13. Noes0.) (April 27).
Apr. 21 Re-referred to Com. on TRANS.
Apr. 20 From committee chair, with author's amendments:
Amend, and re-refer to Com. on TRANS.
Read second time and amended.
Apr. 2 Referred to Com. on TRANS.
Mar. 2 Read first time.
Mar. 1 From printer. May be heard in committee March 30.
Feb. 27 Introduced. To print.
I may be wrong, and the NJ.COM and other internet sources may be right. But so far, I've been unable to find any evidence that the Microstamping of Ammunition has actually been enacted. If you have information to the contrary, I would be grateful if you would provide the evidence so that I can address what most of us would conceive as 'an egregious misapplication of the legislative process'.
When I am corrected, I'll post The Real Truth here. Immediately ... well, as soon as I verify the evidence.
No comments:
Post a Comment