California Attorney General Bill Lockyer’s latest gun control scheme is a “fanatic fantasy,” the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today.
Lockyer has proposed requiring all handgun ammunition sold in the Golden State to be “branded” with a microscopic code that would ostensibly help identify its origin and who bought it. The law would require each round of handgun ammunition to have a tiny serial number etched into its surface. This would apply to ammunition possessed in public, sold or imported into the state. Published reports indicate the law would have a sunset provision, meaning that at a date and time certain, the law would no longer be in effect.
CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron called the scheme “hare-brained.”
“We think Bill Lockyer should first test this technology on all police ammunition,” Waldron said. “Such identification would be useful in determining who fired what shots in police shootings, and if it appears the technology works, then a more comprehensive requirement might be considered.
“Three years ago, Lockyer wanted to require ballistic imaging tests on all handguns sold in California, but his own expert said it wouldn’t work,” Waldron recalled. “Lockyer then took his idea to a leading ballistics authority in Europe, who also said the technology is not reliable.
“More recently,” Waldron continued, “Lockyer supported a bill that would have required retailers to take a fingerprint from everyone purchasing ammunition, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wisely vetoed that idea.
“However, like a bad penny, Lockyer keeps coming back,” Waldron added. “This latest scheme should be called the ‘Unintended Consequences’ plan, because it almost certainly will result in a thriving ammunition black market, and higher prices. It might also lead to false arrests when criminals use stolen ammunition, in stolen guns, to commit crimes. But since Lockyer and other gun control fanatics think it’s okay to regulate honest citizens for the acts of criminals, they shouldn’t care if they start locking up innocent people, too.”