State requires new gun models to 'microstamp' bullets to make them easier to trace, but gun maker won't comply
The Smith & Wesson booth at the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 14.Julie Jacobson/AP
Gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson said Thursday it won’t sell some new models of its semiautomatic handguns in California to avoid complying with the state’s new safety requirements.
A California law passed seven years ago and put into effect last May requires gun manufacturers to submit for testing all models of semiautomatic handguns that have been substantially changed since they were previously on the market.
Each pistol must also be microstamped, a marking used on the gun’s bullet casings to identify its make, model and serial number — a step that Massachusetts-based Smith & Wesson said it will not take. The company said microstamping is cost-prohibitive and unreliable as a crime deterrent.
California’s law, the first in the nation of its kind, does not apply to guns sold for military or law enforcement use.
Smith & Wesson said it expects sales of its California-compliant revolvers, which aren't required to have microstamping, to offset the impact to the company.
Elizabeth Sharp, vice president for investor relations at Smith & Wesson, said in an email to Reuters that other firearms makers were also expected to allow products covered under the law to fade out of the market in California as they are upgraded or modified.
Sharp would not release any figures indicating how popular the affected pistols are, or how many are in circulation.
Smith & Wesson President James Dobney said the microstamping requirement, signed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007, was "poorly conceived."
Microstamping a gun, meant to make it easier for law enforcement investigators to track down shooters in criminal cases, is an unproven and unreliable method, said Dobney, "and makes it impossible for Californians to have access to the best products with the latest innovations."
Gun rights organizations including the National Rifle Association oppose the law, and the firearms industry trade group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, is suing to have it overturned.
California has some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation. Last year the state passed legislation aimed at further tightening its firearm regulations, including a ban on so-called conversion kits used to change standard firearms into semiautomatics, capable of firing more than 10 rounds of ammunition without reloading.
I. The damaged child, who is taught that cruelty and even violence are expressions of love
II. The damaged adult, who still believes in the crucial importance of "secret information"
Herein you can learn why there is very few in this country with a true "sense of self" and why that has allowed Barack Obama to get away with defrauding the American people of their God-given rights. Here is an excerpt from the terrific article by Arthur Silber:
You can consult the articles linked above (and follow the internal links for much more on this) to appreciate the full scope of the fraud represented by "intelligence." The crucial point is that "intelligence" as it is thought of by most people -- and as it is marketed by the State -- is a fraud from start to finish. It is a damnable, unforgivable lie. I will probably have some narrower comments about Obama's speech, but the speech in its entirety is premised on a complete fabrication, on a conception of "intelligence" that corresponds to the facts and the truth at not even a single point. In that sense, Obama's speech is nothing but a lie.
I am painfully aware that my position represents an almost undetectable minority view. Very few people agree with me. Among other things, that is a testament to the training and conditioning to which all of us have been subjected. As children, we often had no choice but to accept our parents' and other authority figures' claims to "secret information," which was one of the supposed justifications for commanding our obedience. Most people carry this belief system into adulthood without alteration or serious challenge. An authority figure makes a serious pronouncement, and most adults are prepared to accept it; you see this dynamic with "experts" in all fields, even when what they say is obvious nonsense. The President makes a series of claims that have nothing to do with the truth, and there is no wise child -- and there are almost no adults -- who will declare: "You're a liar, and you're naked, too."
But I'll say it: You, Barack Obama, are a goddamned, bloody liar. And put some fucking clothes on.
Bottom Line Up Front: The details of Obama’s most recent speech about “changes” to the NSA’s surveillance practices reveal that sadly little of substance will change. A few cosmetic touchups, some nice words, issues tossed into the pit of Congress to fade away in partisan rancor, and high hopes that the issue will slip away from the public eye as “fixed.” Not word one about how absent Edward Snowden’s historic disclosures the president would not even be offering this lip service, happy to allow the tumor of spying to continue to grow in secret as he had done for the last six years of his presidency.
This article by: JP Sottile Thursday January 16, 2014, will give you pause to thank your warmongering neighbor that supported everything that's happened since 9-ll-2001.
