Microstamping Frequently Asked Questions
What is microstamping? Microstamping is a technology that would allow police to positively link used cartridge cases recovered at crime scenes to the firearms and criminals that fired them. How does it work? The basic technology of microstamping involves the use of lasers to make extremely precise, microscopic engravings on the firing pin and breech face of a semiautomatic handgun. As the gun is fired, a code is stamped onto the cartridge casings which are then ejected from the firearm. Trained firearms examiners can read the codes on these recovered casings and link them to the serial number of the specific gun that fired the rounds. The technology promises to greatly aid law enforcement officials in investigating homicides and other gun crimes. Why another law? Don't police already use ballistic technology? Microstamping is the next generation of ballistic identification technology. The ballistic imaging technology currently in use by most law enforcement agencies relies on comparison of the unique markings left by each firearm on shell casings. Current technology can help solve gun crimes because no two guns leave exactly the same markings, but (1) the differences in the markings are often subtle and require expert analysis in a laboratory setting and (2) a shell casing cannot be matched to the gun that fired it unless the gun (or another casing fired by the gun) is available for comparison. Microstamping overcomes these limitations by ensuring that every casing will bear the serial number of the gun that fired it, eliminating the need to locate the gun or obtain a second casing for comparison. This innovation gives police an enormous advantage, but it requires the cooperation of firearm manufacturers, because they have to include a microstamp when the gun is made. Microstamping does not require the collection of any new information from gun owners and substitutes for conventional ballistic identification techniques, which are more expensive and time-consuming and less likely to yield a successful identification. What about the Second Amendment and the right to privacy? Federal law already requires every firearm made or imported into the United States to have a unique serial number stamped on its frame. Manufacturers and importers are required to keep records identifying the buyer of each gun and its serial number, and firearm dealers must keep sales records with the name and address of every retail purchaser. This system of record keeping allows law enforcement to trace guns recovered in the course of criminal investigations to their original purchasers while avoiding the need for the government to assemble a list of gun owners. Microstamping simply improves the usefulness of the existing tracing system by putting each gun's serial number on the shell casings it fires. Microstamping does not collect any new personal information from gun owners or limit gun ownership in any way. Criminals don't register their guns, so what good would having the serial number of their gun do in fighting crime? Microstamping is not - and does not rely on - registration or licensing. When police find a microstamped shell casing, they can identify the gun used to fire it, which can be enough to solve a case if they later find a suspect in possession of the gun. Even if the gun is never found, they can learn the identity of its original retail purchaser by using the tracing system, which uses manufacturer and dealer sales records, not licensing or registration. If they find another shell casing from the same gun, they can make connections between what otherwise appear to be unrelated crimes. What is currently being done to implement microstamping? On October 13, 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed historic microstamping legislation into law in California. The law will require all new semiautomatic handguns sold in California to include microstamping technology as of January 1, 2010. |
