New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is America’s best known gun-grabber. The billionaire founder, head and financier of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) never fails to find a media ear willing to listen to his anti-gun agenda, disguised as it is as “common sense.” In this case, the NY Post has given Mayor Bloomberg and his pet AG space to hawk their latest hair-brained gun control scheme. Microstamping saves lives: Senate must resist gun lobby and pass crime-fighting the headline proclaims, despite the fact that A) the technology is expensive, dubious and unproven and B) it can’t save a life because no one’s done it (see: A). So . . .
Microstamping is a technology that imprints a unique mark on every bullet casing that is ejected when a semiautomatic is fired. These marks help detectives make the connection between a gun and a crime scene, generating important leads in shooting investigations. Right now, if shell casings ejected from a gun are left behind at a crime scene but the gun itself is not recovered, the case can go cold – leaving the criminals free to pull the trigger again.
If police find one microstamped shell casing at a crime scene, they have a 54% chance of identifying the gun. Right now, using existing ballistics technology, they have a 2% chance.
Let’s review: microstamping only works on semi-automatic pistols IN THEORY, it helps detectives solve crimes IN THEORY, New York’s multi-million dollar program to keep a record of ballistic fingerprints for hundreds of thousands of guns is a total failure (swept under the carpet), NY detectives’ inability to solve crimes is largely technological, and here are a bunch of BS stats from God-knows-where (the company that wants to sell microstamping?) justifying a completely unproven technology.
But that’s OK because . . .
The fact is that microstamping poses no threat or inconvenience to law-abiding gun owners; it is solely about crime fighting. The technology is invisible and does not have any impact on the operation of guns.
And the bill only covers semiautomatic handguns – not long guns favored by sportsmen – and even then, the requirement would be waived if microstamping costs more than $12 per firearm, a minor expense for guns that typically cost more than $300. The argument that New York-based gun manufacturers would bear an unfair burden is flat-out false: The bill applies to guns sold in New York regardless of whether they’re manufactured in New York State, New Mexico or anywhere else.
Let’s review: it’s OK to tax handgun owners but not “sportsmen”, a five percent (roughly) tax on handguns is A-OK, all guns sold in New York will have to include microstamping devices, which means most gunmakers won’t bother, which means NY gun owners will be denied a wide choice of weapons with which to defend themselves.
All I’ve got to say about all that: God bless the Internet. Specifically, the comments section underneath articles. jushadenough:
Another example of government reaching too far into our lives. The police state attempts to sink its ever expanding set of tentacles deeper into society. Only the people who legally buy guns will pay and be inconvenienced by this law. They don’t bother to tell you the amount of guns legally bought in New York that are used to commit crimes do they? Conveniently forgot to include that number. In addition, the criminal who uses a gun to commit a crime doesn’t really take the time to obtain the gun legally. The government won’t be happy until the few who legally obtain guns will be reduced to a big 0.
Oh and this: nail file.