dc0de wrote:

Mike -
Well, you make a few good points, but completely miss on some others.

Point #1
"Is it an increase in the cost of ammo? Slightly, but marginal at most."

What about those of us who handload/reload? We can't serialize, or etch, so now it's illegal to do something we've done for years? We have to destroy our existing ammo at our own cost?

I currently reload .45cal at a COST of approximately $0.05 per round. The cheapest that I can purchase rounds today, is $0.14/round. I spent my money to purchase my reloading equipment,Legally, so that I can save money, not spend MORE. ANY COST that increases, will be MORE money out of my pocket. With these laws, it would be illegal for me to reload, cast, or other wise use my equipment. Serializing will remove my ability to SAVE money, and shoot often. No one has yet talked about how this will effect the muzzle loading communities either. I would also be forced to purchase ammunition from a limited set of ammunition manufacturers, a fact that will cause bottlenecks in the supply chain, and causing ammo prices to rise even higher. Ammo manufacturers are already closing their factories in states that are requiring serialization, due to the high costs of retooling. They are also looking at refusing to sell to other states where it is a requirement. Retooling the manufacturing lines is an expensive option, and there are issues with safety where the serialization lasers and reloading systems will need to be separated, as the laser and the powder simply don't play well together. (think big boom.)

There is little proof that the this will actually help find out anything about the shooter, and less proof that the serial number will actually survive the firing, impact and forensics process. It has already been proven that the rifle calibers will NOT survive the process.

As a legislator, my position is, ammunition manufactured for sale shall be serialized as a unique stamp in the cartridge (that is, the "brass"). Serial numbers need to be tracked to point and date of sale, we don't need recorded ID on ammo sales. That covers privacy issues, but still accelerates tracking.

If you're a reloader, you're probably not selling, and even if you are, you're not manufacturing the brass. Serialization in my book would have zero effect on you, aside from maybe increasing the cost of new rounds to get new brass. For muzzle loaders it has even less effect. No brass equals no serialization, period. The way I would implement serialization applies to the brass.

Point #2
"You become capable of determining not just caliber, but you can start pinning locations, and that helps track down the people who used the ammo illegally."

This is a meaningless statement. Caliber is easily determined when you obtain a recovered slug. Go to your local range, and ask them to show you the recovered... [ Read More (0.9k in body) ]

RE: Microstamping and Serialization | Slinging Lead...downrange...

dc0de wrote:
If you like your rights... you might want to review the links in the article...

Well I didn't really want to do this, but this is as good a time as any. As someone running for public office, this issue is a complete crock. I don't agree with microstamping. It's an enormous pain, expensive to retool, but is it a "tax" on legal gun owners? Hell no. A tax means the government gets something out of it, and in either case, the government makes no money off the exchange, in fact if anything any additional costs would get passed to the buyer, with no money going to the government, so calling this a tax is garbage.

I DO agree with serialization. Is it an increase in the cost of ammo? Slightly, but marginal at most. For law enforcement, it's a boon. Suddenly you can track where the ammo was sold. You become capable of determining not just caliber, but you can start pinning locations, and that helps track down the people who used the ammo illegally.

More than that, the same people who oppose anything like this oppose things that make sense like doing ballistics checks on all new guns pre-sale. "It's too expensive. They don't mean anything." I have news for you, ballistics evidence has been getting convictions in criminal courts for close to a century. If it doesn't mean anything, millions of people are in, or have been in, jails improperly. I don't buy that, and neither do any of the lawyers of cops I know. Is it expensive? Again, no. A couple of bucks to test fire new guns is negligible at most.

I like my rights. I like them a lot. But serialization of ammo is at most a negligible cost, and a firm step in the right direction for finding and sending people who commit gun crimes to jail. Does this deal with the 100 million guns out there already? No. It addresses the 5 million new guns added to that total each year. That is significant and useful.

Congratulations on supporting the rights of sociopaths everywhere by blocking things that can lead to their capture.

RE: Microstamping and Serialization | Slinging Lead...downrange...

Newsweek is set to publish a highly embarrassing report on Sen. John McCain, revealing that the McCains have failed to pay taxes on their beach-front condo in La Jolla, California, for the last four years and are currently in default, The Huffington Post has learned.

Oops!

McCains Defaulted On Home Taxes For Last Four Years, Newsweek To Report - Politics on The Huffington Post

Senate Democrats accuse Republicans of adopting intransigence as a strategy to produce a "do-nothing" Congress. Senate Republicans acknowledge using delay tactics but say they are reacting to a heavy-handed Democratic majority that has denied them a voice on the Senate floor.

Let's clarify a few things here. First, when Republicans controlled Congress, Democratic bills and amendments were flat blocked. They never reached the floor, and once in a while something so egregious would come up that the 60 vote rule would become invoked in the Senate. What have we seen since then? Everything gets blocked, filibustered, or bogged down in nowhere by the Republicans. Denying them a voice? Get real. Better yet, get out so things can actually get done.

Watch some of the Republican campaign commercials going up. They're talking about themselves as "bi-partisan," "uniters," anything except what they are, road blocks that serve no purpose except to stop anything that may come up. Hell they voted against Mother's Day. Don't need 'em, don't want 'em.

Political Maneuvers Delay Bill After Bill in Senate - washingtonpost.com

“Many qualified candidates” were rejected for the department’s honors program because of what was perceived as a liberal bias, the report found. Those practices, the report concluded, “constituted misconduct and also violated the department’s policies and civil service law that prohibit discrimination in hiring based on political or ideological affiliations.”

I detect much pain soon to emanate from Justice. And a good thing too.

Report Sees Illegal Hiring Practices at Justice Department - NYTimes.com

In the past two years, I have spoken with two investigating magistrates in two different European nations, both pro-Iraq war NATO allies. Both were assembling war crimes charges against a small group of Bush administration officials. "You can rest assured that no charges will be brought before January 20, 2009," one told me. And after that? "It depends. We don't expect extradition. But if one of the targets lands on our territory or on the territory of one of our cooperating jurisdictions, then we'll be prepared to act."

Farewell tour of Europe is right. People from the White House try to go back, they get to see prison grey.

Travel Advisory

From March 1 to June 18, 2008, Operation Malicious Mortgage resulted in 144 mortgage fraud cases in which 406 defendants were charged. Yesterday, 60 arrests were made in mortgage fraud-related cases in 15 districts. Charges in Operation Malicious Mortgage cases were brought in every region of the United States and in more than 50 judicial districts by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices based upon the law enforcement and investigative efforts of participating law enforcement agencies. The FBI estimates that approximately $1 billion in losses were inflicted by the mortgage fraud schemes employed in these cases.

They're about 4 years late on starting this one. And luv the name! What's next? Operation Gang Bang going after porn people? How about Operation Executive Decision going after the White House for violating their oaths of office?

Federal Bureau of Investigation - Operation Malicious Mortgage

To defend itself against a lawsuit by the widows of three American soldiers who died on one of its planes in Afghanistan, a sister company of the private military firm Blackwater has asked a federal court to decide the case using the Islamic law known as Shari’a.

WTF??? What? How? Why?

If the judge agrees, it would essentially end the lawsuit over a botched flight supporting the U.S. military. Shari’a law does not hold a company responsible for the actions of employees performed within the course of their work.

Oh, well gee, we aren't responsible because it was our employees, not the company.

Guys, here's a short pier, take a long walk off it. Oh those fins? Those are... dolphins! Yeah! Dolphins! And they want to play in the water with you! It'll be a blast!

Blackwater: Apply Sharia law in US Courts!

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Justice Department lawyers had brought what is known as a grand jury referral focusing on possible perjury by Bradley J. Schlozman, who was acting head of the civil rights division in 2003.

Yep, this loser. We're quite familiar with him here in Missouri where he acted against DoJ practice to try to throw the 2006 election in favor of his party while acting US Attorney over in Kansas City. See ya Brad, we don't miss you.

Grand Jury Said to Look at Attorneys’ Dismissals - NYTimes.com

Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.

Way to go guys. A fine illustration of Republican "values."

Republicans Vote Against Moms; No Word Yet on Puppies, Kittens - washingtonpost.com