Rhode Island Looks at Microstamping

Advocating a new tool against crime

While I wouldn't cite this as a case of biased reporting - the reporter uses quotes from the advocates and really doesn't show any bias.

However, it IS about microstamping, so I have to highlight and shoot down some of the things in this story. (Pun? What pun?)

[Providence Mayor] Cicilline likened the advantage of microstamping to the police having a suspects home address rather than just his partial fingerprints.

Oh, sure thing Mr. Mayor. Although most criminals don't go very high into the triple digit IQ range, do you really think they're going to legally purchase a firearm then use it in a crime? Criminals may not be smart, but they're clever. More on this later.

This one is alarming:

Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy is preparing legislation for introduction in the Senate that would mandate microstamping and Cicilline announced that he will reintroduce microstamping legislation that failed in the last session of the Rhode Island General Assembly.

As is this:

The enactment by California, a huge state, heartened microstamping advocates because of its potential ripple effect.

We may be winning, but the war's far from over. The ripple effect is something the anti's are counting on. They said so themselves when talking about the DC ban. (I wish I could find that)

Read this, it's something you see on CSI at least once a week:

FOR NEARLY a hundred years, firearms examiners have been matching bullets and shell casings to the guns from which they were fired.

Now, read this:

Those inscriptions would enable law enforcers, using an existing federal government firearms database, to quickly trace shell casings to the maker of the gun that fired the casing and to the person or entity to whom the gun was sold.

Notice what's missing? Bullets. Microstamping still won't facilitate crime fighting. It'll just allow an averagely clever criminal to throw out a few red herrings at a crime scene and totally destroy the prosecution's case.

Microstamping eliminates the "tea leaf reading" now demanded of firearms examiners who try to match microscopic scratches among casings, Horwitz declared.

Of course, matching the bullet to the casing will still require perusal of the aforementioned tea leafs.

The legislation that Cicilline had introduced in the General Assembly would make handgun manufacturers and dealers civilly liable for selling handguns that lack the microstamping feature and would make it a criminal offense to alter a handgun in an attempt to foil the microstamping.

To quote Bugs Bunny: What a Ultra-Maroon. I'm sure making it a criminal offense will keep it from happening, it's worked so well in other cases. Like handgun bans and stuff.

Finally, there's this:

Advocates say that a microstamping law would not restrict gun ownership or access, would not require the creation of another database, and would impose a minimal cost on manufacturers.

Pardon me? You already have a database of microstamped handguns? Wow, you all are good!

(all emphasis mine, of course)

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