Want to stop gun violence now? Regulate bullets: Robert Muggah is a co-founder of the Igarap Institute, headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, and a co-director of the SecDev Group in Ottawa.Here's a quick recap of his unworkable "solutions" (all of which we've seen before"):
Because bullets are so widely available, people often wonder whether ammunition can be regulated at all. The answer is yes."AT ALL"? Sure. Realistically, considering the volume? No way!
A good place to start is the factories where bullets are manufactured. Strict control on the production and sale of unusually dangerous ammunition would be straightforward, since such sales can now be monitored digitally.
(Would you please define "unusually dangerous ammunition"? All ammunition is dangerous ... but then, you know that. Don't you?)
It's also cheaper than ever to mark and trace bullets with microscopic codes or serial numbers, which help law enforcement solve gun-related crimes. This data can be registered with the buyer's personal information at the time of purchase.
(Can you cite a single instance where 'serialized ammunition' has ever been used by law enforcement to solve a 'gun-related crime'? I didn't think so)
What's more, there are far fewer producers of ammunition than there are producers of firearms, according to Small Arms Analytics, a research firm. This makes the ammunition industry easier to regulate.
Give me strength ... and a strong stomach!
(1) The author seems to conveniently ignore the fact that ammunition ("Bullets"!) are manufactured in Bulk. They are usually inspected by hand, for Quality Control; but they are packed automatically. Which strongly implies that any effort to "serialize" ammunition will not result in a reliable method of tying the individual "bullet" with the package by which they are sold.
(2) "Serialized Ammunition" is packed in quantities of (usually) no more than 50 rounds per package. Some are SOLD in bulk ... by the bucket-load. So if you're going to "easily mark ... bullets with microscopic codes or serial numbers" you must ensure that the buyers' personal information is related to an unique group of "bullets". What happens when a serialized "bullet" is packed in the wrong package ... and purchased by a person with criminal intent? And the (cartridge case) retrieved at the scene of a crime has the 'serial number' which belongs to a 50-round package purchased by an innocent person? In that case, your "easier to regulate" scheme has served two purposes; a criminal escapes, and an innocent is prosecuted. Sometimes "easier" is not the same as "better".
(3) Making the "ammunition industry easier to regulate" is an effort which is not commonly considered a requirement. Every round is marked with the manufacturers' headstamp, so if a cartridge ("bullet", in your parlance) causes an injury which leads to adjudication, it's obvious who the manufacturer may be. Common headstamps include "WIN" (Winchester), for example, plus the caliber of the cartridge on the base of the cartridge.
(Note that the "BULLET" is a component of the cartridge ... which a knowledgeable person would have known and would not have used the two terms interchangeably!!!)
(4) Speaking of which, I am assuming that you truly intend to "serialize ammunition" by placing an unique (or semi-unique) serial number on the base of the CARTRIDGE, not on the BULLET.
Because if you are truly not so ignorant that you don't know the difference between the Cartridge and the Bullet, then you are raising the expense of ammunition manufacture to a quantum-level of complexity.
Mr. Muggah, I'll cut you some slack and assume ignorance on your part; but if you deliberately said that BULLETS can be serialized and administratively .... somehow .... be linked to the serial number on the package of CARTRIDGES purchased by a gun owner, then you are not only ignorant of the manufacturing process but abysmally, fatally, incomprehensibly STUPID!!!!!
Want to stop gun violence now?
Here's a plan: Register every person who reads your L.A. Times article and nods their head as if to say: "Yep; sounds reasonable to me!"
Y'all have serious Mental Health Issues ... or else you're all just IDIOTS.
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