California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law Wednesday requiring new guns to be outfitted with technology that has proven unworkable wherever it has been tried.
Gun Owners of California reports Newsom signed AB 2847, which “forces manufacturers to use microstamping technology in order to have new handguns on the approved [California DOJ] roster.”
The CA DOJ maintains a roster of new guns approved for sale in the state of California. Beginning July 1, 2022, only new guns with microstamping technology will be added to the list.
Moreover, each time a gun with microstamping technology is added to the roster three guns without such technology will be removed.
Microstamping technology has proven unworkable everywhere it has been tried, as it is easily thwarted by criminals who understand how it works.
For example, on November 8, 2015, Breitbart News reported Maryland ended a ballistic fingerprinting program after spending 15 years and $5 million without solving a single crime. The New York Times reported New York also tried an experiment with microstamping/ballistic marking requirements beginning on 2009.
State lawmakers defunded the failed experiment in 2012.
National Shooting Sports Foundation’s public affairs director Mark Olivia told Breitbart News:
Governor Newsom hasn’t heard a gun control idea that he doesn’t like. Independent studies show that microstamping is easily defeated with a thirty-cent sheet of sandpaper and cannot deliver legible markings after repeated strikes of the firing pin. This law isn’t about reducing crime. This law is about erasing gun rights in California. That’s why he included a provision to speed up his slow-rolling handgun ban.
The Los Angeles Times reports California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer both support the the microstamping requirement. Becerra also supports a “high capacity” magazine ban for California and Feuer is a staunch advocate of California’s confiscatory Gun Violence Restraining Orders.
Newsom also signed AB 2362 on Wednesday, putting new gun controls into place for licensed gun dealers. The Firearms Policy Coalition reports that AB 2362 adds fines up to $3,000 for clerical errors on paperwork.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up for Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.