"Microstamping in California" - Part II

Reviewing the comments on my review of "Microstamping in California", it's obvious that I have not made clear the full wrath detail of my objections to this odious law.

Here's an Instant Replay of the most bizarre portions of this pseudo-technology:

Under this law, firearms manufacturers would have to micro laser-engrave a gun's make, model and serial number on two distinct parts of each gun, including the firing pin so that, in theory, this information would be imprinted on the cartridge casing when the pistol is fired.

Given the interest displayed by the respondents, one assumes that the readers are conversant with the details of firearms manufacture.

The portion of the bill with which I took exception ignored the 'firing pin' clause, and emphasized the other "distinct part" of the gun.  (Note:  Most Microstamping Bills .. which failed to pass in EVERY OTHER STATE where they were introduced ... tended to require impressions to be made on only one portion of the cartridge case ... definitively, the base of the cartridge.  That's why Revolvers were almost universally exempt.   They are not cycled by the recoil, but by a purely mechanical process.)

Generally speaking, these bills were applicable to designs where the recoil of a pistol (not a revolver) was used cycle the "Auto-Loading" action.

This is the crux of the problem:  Firearms Manufacturers who hoped to vend new pistols in the offending state would be required to change their manufacturing process in order to either engrave or emboss the details ... including serial number .. on the breach of every slide.   And on the face of every firing pin.

en·grave  (n-grv)

tr.v. en·graved, en·grav·ing, en·graves

1. To carve, cut, or etch into a material: engraved the champion's name on the trophy.

2. To carve, cut, or etch a design or letters into: engraved the silver watch with my monogram.

3.

a. To carve, cut, or etch into a block or surface used for printing.

b. To print from a block or plate made by such a process.

4. To impress deeply as if by carving or etching: The experience was engraved into his memory.

em·boss  (m-bôs, -bs)

tr.v. em·bossed, em·boss·ing, em·boss·es

1. To mold or carve in relief: emboss a design on a coin.

2. To decorate with or as if with a raised design: emboss leather.

3. To adorn; decorate.

4. To cover with many protuberances; stud: "The whole buoy was embossed with barnacles" (Herman Melville).

 If you either "engrave" or "emboss" the information on a primer, much of the impact of the head of the firing pin is expended upon the full surface ... which leads to misfires.  Neither approach tends to maintain the full impact of a firing pin, but one supposes that  both the firing pin and the breach-face would be designed to impress the data as an indentation, rather than to push the majority of the surface away from the areas which would be impacted by either/both the firing pin and the breach-face.


Can you imagine the technology which would be required to remove a portion of the breach-face and still retain the raised (or 'engraving') portion which would act like the typeface of a Linotype printer? How may rounds would it take for the raised surface to wear away?  If the breach-face is designed to 'emboss' the data on the cartridge base, who much accumulated gunpowder residue would it take to fill the un-raised surfaces of the breach-face to the point where the data is obscured?

Over time and repetitive firing, both wear and fouling would tend to obscure the impression on BOTH the primer and the base of the cartridge ... rending the information delivery subject to interpretation by technical obscures who can be counted on to say: "I can't tell if that's a "one" or a "seven" .. or other expressions of undeterminability.



Besides that the engraving or embossing process in such minute detail is prohibitively expensive, it also makes it a requirement that the slide must be perfectly and reliably mated to the frame.

At this time only the frame is  serialized.    Now, to accommodate this bill, the slide and the frame must be matched.  That makes not just one step of accommodation (that the slide and the frame retain the same serial number) but also another step in which they are matched with the model number.   It is not only possible, but likely that the same slide might be used on any number of models.  This is just one more complexity which makes the manufacturing process logrithmically more difficult.

Consider the legal liabilities if a slide and frame may not be perfectly matched by the manufacturer!

Oh, and then the factory assemblers have to match the firing pin to the other two components; that requires that all THREE components .. one major and one minor ... must be perfectly match.

Let's look at the slide.  Generally speaking, if a slide cracks or is otherwise rendered unserviceable, the replacement cost is a matter of a few hundred dollars;  it's a stock part, and requires no special accounting other than billing.

Now, with the requirement that the slide be 'serialized', the cost of creating a new duplicate slide becomes almost prohibitively expensive.

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But what about the firing pin?

What does it cost to create a firing pin, today?  Pennies.  A couple of dollars, at best.

Now, the cost of creating a firing pin with the exactly correct data EMBOSSED on it is ... much higher.  And again, the legal liability of providing the correct information is daunting.

So, you  cannot get a replacement firing pin (which, like pencils, are subject to wear and frequent replacement) without walking through a number of legals steps.

First, you (the customer) must identify the firing pin.  Also the pistol manufacturer, serial number and model.

Why would the manufacturer want to fill an order for someone who may not even own the firearm for which the replacement parts are supposedly intended?   After all, it would be easy for someone to order replacement slide and firing pin for a pistol which belonged to someone else.  Then he could create a crime scene which (according to the state of California) pointed directly at the owner of another firearm ... even if that firearm had  never left the possession of the true owner!

This requires the manufacturer (at no cost to the state!) of both firing pin and slide to establish a procedure which will definitively identify the purchaser and CONFIRM that identity!

This is, in effect, not only gun registration but registration of whatever parts The State chooses to define as, essentially, a 'firearm'.

It increases not only the cost of the original purchase, but also the cost of maintenance.

It creates a huge clerical burden on the manufacturer, and greatly increases their legal liability,

Their manufacturing processes be damned .. the overhead alone is unbearable.  I cannot imagine a situation which would encourage a firearms manufacture to even attempt to accommodate the manufacturing, support and legal burdens which are required by this bizarre law!

This is in no way an attempt to solve crimes.  This is a blatant, out-and-out attempt to impose gun-control 'by other means'.

The California Legislature (senate and assembly, both) bought into this nefarious scheme with the full intent to deny their law-abiding citizens their 2nd Amendment rights.

SUMMARY:

• Manufacturing process becomes prohibitively expenseive
• replacement of worn or broken parts similarly expensive
• Legal responsibilities for 100%  accuracy also include legal liabilities for manufactures and vendors
• Replacement parts (firing pins AND slides) only available on 'special/custom' order, and only DIRECTLY from manufacturers
• Requires registration and tracking procedures for replacement "small parts"
• Requires acceptance by customers of exceptionally intrusive identification and verification process from non-governmental agencies
• Ultimately, EVERY segment of parts replacement process becomes entangled in legal issues, more expensive, more frustrating, and more likely to end in disappointment when any party in the transaction fears that legal implications make the exchange too hazardous
• Customers with a broken gun ... even just a bent firing pin .. may soon find it 'easier' to replace the gun than to walk though the parts-replacement process

Need it be mentioned that most legislators are trained lawyers?  If they can't tax us to death, they can legislate us to death. (Shakespeare got it right.)

And if you live in California, they will do both.

If there was ever a reason for a citizenry to make their political partisanship a one-issue priority ... anti-gun control, I cannot imagine what it would be.

And of course, it's all for the chillllll ... drun ......!

What a bunch of Morons they must think  us to be.