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NY Mayors For Sensible Gun Control

by: Steven D

Tue Jun 15, 2010 at 10:48:10 AM EDT

What is it?  It's a simple process.  It's called Micro-stamping.  I'll let the language from the ad that the New York Mayors Against Illegal Guns (part of Mayors Against Illegal Guns will start running today in newspapers across NY State:

Microstamping technology imprints a tiny unique code on the shell casing every time a handgun is fired. The fact is, criminals don't usually leave their guns at the scene of a shooting, but often the shell casings are left behind - and microstamping gives police another way to trace the guns and develop investigative leads. This state-of-the-art technology helps police link shell casings back to the criminal who pulled the trigger.

83 New York police departments and law enforcement organizations have joined with mayors to call on Albany to give them microstamping technology.

What does it do to help the fight against illegal guns and gun crimes?  I'll let the president of the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police and chief of the Port Washington Police District, Chief William Kilfoil explain:

Today, when the only piece of evidence left at a crime scene is a spent shell casing, police investigations often hit a dead end. That's because existing ballistics technology is limited in its ability to identify the source of the gun and bullets used in the crime. In fact, if the only piece of evidence is a shell casing, there is a good chance the case will remain unsolved. But state-of-the-art technology exists, known as microstamping, that would help investigators crack these difficult cases.

Microstamping is a proven technology that will revolutionize gun crime investigations and help put criminal perpetrators behind bars. A microstamp is a unique code that is imprinted directly onto the shell casing when the gun is fired. Like a vehicle identification number of a car, a microstamp provides law enforcement officers with a more accurate method to identify the owner of a crime gun. Even if police find only one shell casing, they have a 54 percent chance of being able to read the microstamp. If they find more casings, the odds of a match are even better.

That 54% chance of being able to read the shell casing number, by the way, is based on a study that was done George G. Krivosta, of the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory in New York. It used older weapons and included a .22 caliber Long Rifle which would not be covered by the proposed law.

I'm no expert on firearms though I have owned one in the past (which was purchased after a simple gun check as provided by the Brady Law).  Frankly I cannot see how this legislation impairs anyone's ability to own a gun should they wish to do so.  

The current bill before the NY legislature (designated A.6468 in the General Assembly and S.6005 in the State Senate) would require that beginning in 2012 all ammunition only for newly manufactured semiautomatic handguns.  Revolvers and rifles would be exempted.  The cost would be capped at $12 per handgun, though the estimated costs is expected to be in the range of $2 to $8 per gun.

Nonetheless, The NRA opposes micro-stamping just as it it opposes closing the gun show loop hole to the Brady Law, and it has employed the same tactics to voice that opposition: by making outrageous claims about the proposed legislation and by demeaning and rancid ad hominem attacks against the proponents of this measure: Mayors, Police Chiefs and other law enforcement officials.

(cont.)

On Tuesday, June 15, Mayor Bloomberg and members of his "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" (MAIG) coalition will be holding a press conference in Albany  in order to push for passage of S6005. These radical gun control zealots will stop at nothing to enact this misguided legislation that will result in a ban on new and used semi-automatic handguns.

Note the language used by the NRA.  Proponents of micro-stanping are "radical gun control zealots."  Methinks that shows a little projection, don't you?  Who are the zealots here?  Mayors and police faced with gun violence in their cities or the NRA which routinely opposes any legislation to regulate firearms regardless of its import.

When the Mayors Against Illegal Guns recommended that "a loophole in federal law that allows individuals on the terrorist watch lists to purchase firearms and explosives" be closed, what was the NRA's response?  Here, read it for yourself:

The NRA, restating its opposition to the bill a few months ago, said it is all part of a conspiracy by "politicians who hate the Second Amendment" and who "think that more gun owners can be placed on the list over time." At Wednesday's hearing, a representative of the conservative Liberty Coalition made a similar argument: "The bill should be titled the Gun Owners Are Probably All Terrorists Act."

Yes, they really said that.  Terrorists should have access to guns because to refuse them that right (which we already do for mentally disturbed individuals, felons and people who have committed domestic violence) is all part of a conspiracy by 2nd Amendment hating politicians to deny all gun owners the right to own guns."  

Maybe the NRA failed to notice but the Supreme Court just struck down the District of Columbia gun ban.  Or maybe they are just radical Second Amendment zealots who will stop at nothing to oppose any law, no matter how sensible, no matter how much it may help improve public safety, if it has anything to do with guns. Even the NRA's own membership thought this opposition by their "leaders" was batshit crazy:

A poll conducted late last year found that 82 percent of gun owners and NRA members support "prohibiting people on the terrorist watch lists from purchasing guns," while 69 percent said they favor "requiring all gun sellers at gun shows to conduct criminal background checks of the people buying guns."

Eighty-two Percent of NRA members want to stop people on terrorist watch lists from buying guns.  Sixty-nine Percent of NRA members want to close the gun show loop hole.  That's a pretty large group of NRA members who think that their leaders' opposition to these measures is wrong.  Of course, when has the current NRA leadership ever cared what their members actually thought, however.  But I digress.

Getting back to the charge made against the proposed micro-stamping legislation. please note the unsupported yet incendiary claim the NRA makes: that this legislation will "result in a ban on new and used semi-automatic handguns."  There is no explanation of how this will occur.  Of course it is a claim that already includes an outright lie: the proposed legislation only applies to newly manufactured semiautomatic handguns beginning in 2012.  So there is no way this legislation could ban older guns.  

But more significantly is the ridiculous assertion that micro-stamping legislation will result in banning handguns at all.  There is no basis offered for this allegation, except for the following:

If passed, the availability of semi-automatic handguns in New York will be in serious doubt, as manufacturers simply may choose not to build or sell firearms for purchase in the state. Of course, that is the ultimate goal of this legislation.  Make no mistake, this is a gun ban and it must be stopped.

Just for the record a micro-stamping law already exists in California.  Have gun manufacturers stopped selling handguns in the most populous state in the nation as a result?  Not that I've heard of.  Do you really think that gun manufacturers will stop selling hand guns in the second most populated state (and one of their largest markets) just because this law is passed?  Yeah, me neither.  

Let me explain why with a simple analogy.  Gas and tobacco taxes are among the highest in the nation in New York, yet for some reason the major oil and tobacco companies still sell gasoline and cigarettes in New York.  Why?  Because there is a market there for their product.  If this micros-stamping bill passes there will still be a market for handguns in New York.  A big market.  Trust me, I know.  

To claim that gun manufacturers will go "John Galt" on New York or any other state which passes a micro-stamping law is absurd.  The shareholders of these gun manufacturers would sue the board of directors if they did and for good reason.  It would constitute a violation of that director's fiduciary duty to make a profit for their shareholders.  And people will still want to buy new guns in New York if micro-stamping passes.

Now is micro-stamping a panacea for stopping the trade in illegal firearms or solving every gun crime.  No proponent makes that argument.  But it is a step in the right direction and a legitimate law to help protect the public and law enforcement officials from handgun crimes in our major metropolitan areas.  It deserves our support.

Let me close with this statement from Mayor Patricia McDonald of Malverne, NY, a Republican and supporter of the New York Micro-stamping bill, who knows all too well the effects that gun crime can have on a family:

"More than 20 years ago, my husband, Steven, was shot in the line of duty as an NYPD police officer," said Mayor Patricia McDonald of Malverne.  "Our police officers are constantly on the front lines in defending our cities and towns from violent crime.  So when more than 83 police departments and law enforcement organizations and 100 mayors ask Albany for microstamping legislation to be passed, I urge the State Senate to hear their call and protect our officers."

Hear, hear!