Every time I sit down here to write I manage to come up with two or three essays that I believe would be great, and when I try to put them together, I just can't do it. Rusty I suppose. So instead I'm going to deal with something simple: gun control. Or in this case, ammunition control.
It's probably common knowledge by now in the gun-geek world that there's a brilliant new crime solving technique being suggested in California. Basically, AG Lockyer is pushing for new legislation requiring all handgun bullets (and I believe casings) to be serialized to allow for 'instant bullet traces,' allowing crimes to be solved in minutes. Or so they say.
They're suggesting laser micro-etching serial numbers into every bullet, described as microscopic. Now, I can think of many problems with this whole idea:
A. Criminals aren't going to follow the law. (Yeah, I know, there's a real DUH factor here but I guess some people need to be bludgeoned over the head constantly with that simple fact.)
B. What kind of extra burden is this going to place on shooters and ammunition manufacturers? Lockyer claims it would add only 1 cent to the cost of each cartridge, which prompts me to turn on my brain and call bullshit. One way or another, it's going to cost significantly more than one cent per cartridge. There are a few ways I can see the manufacturers dealing with this new legislation:
1. No more ammunition shipped to CA. Sucks for the shooters! I would only hope the police wouldn't get any ammunition either, to force the law out.
2. Contract out the engraving to a separate company; all manufacturers run their ammo through just one more shipping step and pay the other company to do it for them, passing the costs on to the consumers in CA alone and suffering a loss in volume sales.
3. Doing the engraving themselves with current equipment. The proponents of this whole idiotic idea claim that ammunition manufacturers already have the equipment to serialize the bullets, but while they do have some engraving machines, they sure as shit don't engrave microscopic marks. More precision = a lot more cost, and there's no need for microscopic precision when you're engraving your cartridges.
4. Doing the engraving themselves by making substantial new equipment investments. Depending on the specifics of the situation, and if they're forced to change their manufacturing process entirely, they might just engrave every damn bullet in every damn cartridge and then everyone in the country would get to pay for it. Bonus to the government for free easy tracking.
Now, those options all suck. Number 4 sucks for everyone, 3 I don't think is realistic but some people think that's how it'll work, I can see 2 happening, and 1 is the solution I'd pick but I doubt it would happen. Maybe if it did some CA only ammunition companies would pop up. Given the past behavior of the gun industry though, I'd probably put my money on number 4. The gun manufacturers have already produced many new models of CA only weapons, if they manufacturer 'eeevil assault weapons,' and while some companies stepped up said Fuck California (Serbu, Barrett), many others gave in. So who knows. I doubt it would be a cohesive movement, that's for sure.
C. What about reloaders? This speaks for itself; they say exceptions would be made for reloaders, but no doubt the next piece of legislation that came along would ban reloading. It's for the children, after all.
D. Microscopic markings mean that they're very easy to remove, because microscopic markings can't be deep or the grooves will show up very obviously. This idea seems like it would only have a snowball's chance in hell even of working on jacketed bullets, and what's to stop people from getting an emery cloth and polishing up the bullets to get rid of the markings? Most bullets anyone would use in a shooting are designed for rapid expansion and fragmentation to reduce penetration and maximize wound potential, which means the bullets are going to get ripped into pieces; only an idiot would use full metal jacket rounds in a self defense situation. Since only citizens that obey they law are going to be affected by this idea, the chance of any markings still being legible is pretty astronomical.
E. What about semi-wadcutters and wadcutters? They are commonly used in revolvers, and albeit for target shooting, but they are also effective choices in self defense because the softer lead and lead alloy bullets expand well. They just don't penetrate for shit. For those of you that don't know, wadcutters are designed to punch clean holes through paper, and typically look like cylinders of lead with ribs around the sides and a concave point that looks kind of like a bowl. Besides the fact that these lead bullets will deform magnificently, it is unrealistic to believe that any markings would survive, even if they were etched somewhere on the bullet that doesn't contact the barrel.
F. Rimfire rounds. In this situation we can pretty much limit the topic to 22 LR. These rounds are relatively high velocity and have very high penetration characteristics, if low kinetic energy. Ever shot one of those spinning steel targets with a 22? Ever notice those little gobs of lead all around the target? Guess what those are? They're the bullets you were just shooting, and it's obvious by looking at them that there's no way in hell a serial number would have survived that impact. Another special problem arises with 22 Long Rifle rounds as well: the volume in which they're sold. I don't have any statistical data on this, but I'd take it as a common fact that 22 LR is by far the most prolific cartridge in existence. This means that the serials would have to be much more complex, and even if there was room on the bullet to engrave such a number, the larger the number the more likely it is to be ruined. Also, consider the price jump of 22 LR ammunition if this is implemented. Maybe when we're talking about 45 ACP or 44 Remington Magnum per-cartridge costs a single cent per cartridge isn't a big deal, but even if it remained the single cent increase per cartridge that they promise, that could be as much as a 100% increase in cost for 22 LR ammo—I've bought 'value packs' of 325 rounds for less than 1 cent a round, but it sucked worse than anything I've ever shot, so don't buy it. I do regularly buy 100 packs of CCI Mini-mags for $3.69 a piece. 1 over 3.69 = a 27% increase in the per cartridge cost of my favorite plinking ammo. From where I sit I can see at least five thousand rounds of 22 LR laying around, and at one cent per cartridge that would hit me up an extra fifty bucks. No thanks. With that money I could be buying some more Estate Cartridge 12ga SWAT 00 Buck loads for my 870 Express, just in case any goblins come creeping around.
G. Who's going to keep track of all this bullshit? A new government agency? They'd probably fuck up a serial number search, go no-knock warranting, and kill the poor sod that just happened to follow the law. Brilliant plan, geniuses.
Okay, so I didn't touch on all the problems with the casings, because I read no mention in the news coverage of the whole idiotic idea that they would be engraving cartridges too. I'm also sure I left some stuff out, because this took a lot longer than I thought it would to write and I didn't write out an outline like I normally would to prevent omission. Oh well, it's just a rant.