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Firearm Microstamping Bill Signed By Gov. Newsom

AB 2847 will also gradually reduce the number of handgun types for sale in California

By Evan Symon, October 1, 2020 4:01 pm

Gun control sign. (Photo:GWikipedia)

Earlier this week, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that requires newer model handguns in California to be microstamped.

Gun manufacturers and firearm advocates denounced the decision, noting that it not only violates Second Amendment rights and would increase black market activity and  and non-registered weapons in the state, but would also hurt economically during a time of economic downturn.

Controversial AB 2847 signed into law

Assemblyman David Chiu. (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe)

Assembly Bill 2847, authored by Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco), specifically notes that microstamping, which imprints tiny markings on cartridges that had been fired from the weapon for quicker police identification, will have to be in at least one part of the interior of the handgun, replacing the current law of having it on two or more places that had been deemed difficult by gun manufacturers and law enforcement alike. The bill will also quicken the process of having more microstamped guns instead of non-microstamped guns in circulation by removing three non-compliant handguns from the state roster of sellable handguns for every new, AB 2847 following model added to the list.

For any new handgun joining the state roster, it will also need to have a chamber load indicator and a magazine disconnect mechanism in addition to the microstamp.

Assemblyman Chiu wrote the bill to increase the percentage of identifiable microstamped guns in California and reduce the number of black market firearms in the state, helping police solve firearm related crimes quicker.

“This is a bill that will assist law enforcement in solving gun-related crimes via using micro-stamping technology and reduce the number of accidental gun deaths and injuries,” said Assemblyman Chiu (D-San Francisco) earlier this year.

“Having this information is critical to solving countless crimes involving firearms, as well as to reducing the black market for guns,” added the Assemblyman in another statement.

Newsom signs highly contested bill

The bill was vigorously opposed this year by both Assembly and Senate Republicans, along with a few Democrats either joining in opposition or deciding to not vote on the issue. However both were eventually passed, with the Senate being closer than many predicted with a 25-12 vote with 3 non-voters.

Newsom, who has backed many gun-limiting measures in the past, including the only-recently overturned Proposition 63, which prohibited higher-capacity magazines and required background checks for purchasing ammunition, in 2016 while Lt. Governor, ultimately signed the bill.

Last night Gov. Newsom signed our microstamping bill,” exclaimed Assemblyman Chiu on Twitter on Wednesday. “The gun industry has gone to great lengths to avoid implementing microstamping & other life saving tools in CA. We finally have a way to hold the industry accountable.”

Many celebrated the bill’s passage on Wednesday, including Assemblyman Chiu and gun control organizations including the Brady California United Against Gun Violence, which had urged its signing throughout the year.

“Today, Gov. Newsom prioritized common-sense reforms and public safety to protect all Californians,” Brady president Kris Brown said in a statement. “The passage of a bill to implement microstamping technology on new models of semiautomatic pistols is evidence of just that, coming over a decade after the state first passed a microstamping requirement that the gun industry has resisted ever since. That law will now aid law enforcement in solving crimes and preventing violence throughout the state for years to come.”

Gun manufacturers, firearm advocates denounce signing

“Ever since the microstamping law was first passed seven years ago, no new handguns have been put up for sale on the roster in California,” Bill Kirk, a California lawyer who has represented gun stores in the past, explained in an interview with the Globe. “In fact, they were scared off long before that, the 2013 bill only being the stake in the coffin.”

“As I explained before, California has scared a lot of gun makers from selling here because of their restrictions, and this will only hurt that. So we’ll be seeing a lot of guns from out of state, unregistered guns, and so on. A lot of my clients have reported a loss of business due to clients simply finding other ways around the current law. When this law becomes active in a few years, it’s only going to increase that.”

“It won’t make things safer.”

The NRA also released a statement on Wednesday.

“We continue to express our frustration over the continuing attack on our Second Amendment Rights with his signing of  AB 2847,” noted the firearm organization. “This legislation is nothing more than a means to reduce the options you have to protect yourself and your family.”

AB 2847 is set to become law on July 1, 2022.

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38 thoughts on “Firearm Microstamping Bill Signed By Gov. Newsom

  1. California needs to issue a moratorium on ANY AND EVERY law proposed by EVERY San Franfreakshow legislator…

    That city is truly messed up, with people who are mentally disturbed….

  2. Is it any shock that Newsom signed this bill into law? He never saw a gun control law that he didn’t like that came across his desk. As is the case with most gun laws it effects law abiding citizens and does NOTHING to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals who many are convicted felons and by law are prohibited from owning them in the first place. Unfortunately in this day and age it is important for citizens to defend themselves against thugs that are released in some localities without bail and the push by left wing radicals to defund and shackle our law enforcement. Wake up California!

    1. @ John

      100% right John. Not only do they not keep guns out of the hands of criminals but do whatever they can to keep them out of prison, and if they’re in prison they find excuses to release them.

      California is the new definition of stupid.

  3. So, Governor Le Petomane has just signed another bill encroaching on the Second Amendment. That’s not exactly a shock, for reasons the article mentions. Like most such measures, it will simply strengthen the criminal acquisition and use of firearms smuggled into the state on the black market.

  4. I am so overwhelmingly disappointed in Chiu and Newsome. Neither one of them can think clearly. They sign a law into place that no manufacturer currently can comply with. So therefore there will be less handguns for sale in California. More black market purchases will happen. Chiu said; “This is a bill that will assist law enforcement in solving gun-related crimes via using micro-stamping technology and reduce the number of accidental gun deaths and injuries,” said Assemblyman Chiu (D-San Francisco) earlier this year. How does microstamping reduce “accidental gun deaths and injuries”? Answer, it does not. This is simply another power grab by the left to control our lives according to their wants and desires. I certainly hope this greasy haired used car salesman never runs for President. He is a total waste of space and breathes air that decent people can use.

  5. Gun manufacturers should only sell pistols that are on the list to law enforcement , that would change the law in a hurry .

  6. When liberals pretend to care, which is all they can do, be worried.

    This has nothing to do with anything they are continuing to gaslight people with.

    The objective is eliminating guns, and they seem to have figured out that if they place a requirement on firearm manufacturers and/or owners that is too difficult or even impossible to implement, guns just basically will not be sold or owned. They attempted this with the magazine thumb release until someone created the bullet-button.

    Democrats do not care about anyone except themselves.

  7. Governor Nuisance and his far left cronies have no common sense, no honor, and don’t give two craps about the CITIZENS who live here. Everytime you turn around they are letting more prisoners out of jail while at the same time making it even more ridiculous to buy firearms and ammo for home defense. Add in they basically encourage protests and rioting by thier rhetoric, failure to enforce the law, and entertainment of calls to defund the police. Law abiding citizens have no choice but to protect them selves and our leaders take that 2nd amendment right away from us and support lawlessness instead. Wake up people!!! Vote them out!!! The state should have spent all that money on vegetation management instead of a train to nowhere. Pathetic!!!

  8. This just made a lot of people, a lot of money. A simple signature expanded the black market in Californicate 10 fold easily. Unless they build a wall around the state, there will be a flood of undocumented, unregistered firearms for sale in L.A., S.F., Fresno, Sac…etc. Just brilliant.

  9. California’s microstamping requirement took effect in 2013 when then-Attorney General Kamala Harris declared the technology “unencumbered by any patent restrictions.” Since then, no new models of semiautomatic handguns have been made available to consumers in California. To date, no gun with microstamping has ever been manufactured anywhere in the world. Microstamping cannot work because it is easily defeated by replacing or polishing a gun’s parts.

    The microstamping law has failed, and its revision will make the situation worse. We are being denied improvements in safety, reliability, and accuracy that are available in other states. The senseless requirement to drop three models for every one added to California’s roster will obviously discourage manufacturers from implementing microstamping, and threatens to accelerate the erosion of our choices. Our state is rapidly approaching a de facto ban on handguns for non-government use.

    1. As a California resident, second amendment supporter and retired LE Officer, I am disappointed that handgun manufacturers haven’t thumbed their noses at California politicians by complying with the micro stamping requirement to flood the California market with their products. They are losing a large market by forsaking California. They should want that money and also want to deny these politicians their win. Who cares if buyers polish off the micro stamping after their purchase. That’s on them. I hope the attitude changes with the manufactures. I don’t think buyers will have any problem paying the extra cost for these state of the art handguns we have been decided. Just my opinion.

    2. As a California resident, second amendment supporter and retired LE Officer, I am disappointed that handgun manufacturers haven’t thumbed their noses at California politicians by complying with the micro stamping requirement to flood the California market with their products. They are losing a large market by forsaking California. They should want that money and also want to deny these politicians their win. Who cares if buyers polish off the micro stamping after their purchase. That’s on them. I hope the attitude changes with the manufactures. I don’t think buyers will have any problem paying the extra cost for these state of the art handguns we have been denied in the past by this unfair law. Just my opinion.

    3. As a California resident, second amendment supporter and retired LE Officer, I am disappointed that handgun manufacturers haven’t thumbed their noses at California politicians by complying with the micro stamping requirement to flood the California market with their products. They are losing a large market by forsaking California. They should want that money and also want to deny these politicians their win. Who cares if buyers polish off the micro stamping after their purchase. That’s on them. I hope the attitude changes with the manufactures. I don’t think buyers will have any problem paying the extra cost to add this technology for these state of the art handguns we have been denied in the past by this unfair law. Just my opinion.

  10. How is it a “bullet tracing law” when microstamping impacts the brass cartridge (the primer principally) and does nothing to mark the actual “bullet”?

  11. Governor Gavin Newsom and Assemblyman David Chiu are both breaking their Oaths to the US Constitution and to the California Constitution, which has penalties for that action.
    Plus the US Constitution, 2nd Amendment, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights, makes it clear that no one who serves within any governmental position/office/etc has any authority over Americans and their weapons. One only has to read the Preamble to the US Constitution, etc, plus the comments made by the founders, framers, etc.

    Preamble to the Bill of Rights: Congress OF THE United States begun and held at the City of New York, on Wednesday the Fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.
    THE Conventions of a number of the States having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution.”

    Federal gun control was non existent until the National Firearms Act passed in 1934 because it goes against the Bill of Rights, the people’s natural rights protected from those who serve within our governments by the US Constitution.

    The requirement for all Federal and State Civil officers to give their solemn and binding Oath is established in the US Constitution, Article VI, Section 1, Clause 4. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary: “If any Branch fails to obey the “supreme Law”, then, in order to preserve the Rule of Law, the other Branches, or failing that, the States or the people, must overrule them”.

    18 U.S.C. 1918 provides penalties for violation of the required Oath of office described in 5 U.S.C. 7311 which include: (1) removal from office and; (2) confinement or a fine. 5 U.S.C. 7311 explicitly makes it a federal criminal offense for anyone employed in the United States Government to “advocate the overthrow of our constitutional form of government”.

    Brookfield Construction Company V. Stewart 284 F Sup. 94: “An officer who acts in violation of the constitution ceases to represent the government.” [How many are currently serving within our government that meets that requirement?]

    “No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid.” Federalist #78
    “…the power of the Constitution predominates. Any thing, therefore, that shall be enacted by Congress contrary thereto, will not have the force of law. James Wilson, Madison’s Notes on the Convention

    Tench Coxe, Delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787: “Who are the militia? are they not ourselves. Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American… The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.”

    Here is why most of the American people are so non thinking today.
    Bertrand Russell,1953: “… Diet, injections, and injunctions will combine, from a very early age, to produce the sort of character and the sort of beliefs that the authorities consider desirable, and any serious criticism of the powers that be will become psychologically impossible…” (“The Impact of Science on Society”, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1953)

    CIA Director William Casey: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false”.
    I am the source for this quote, which was indeed said by CIA Director William Casey at an early February 1981 meeting of the newly elected President Reagan with his new cabinet secretaries to report to him on what they had learned about their agencies in the first couple of weeks of the administration.
    The meeting was in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. I was present at the meeting as Assistant to the chief domestic policy adviser to the President. Casey first told Reagan that he had been astonished to discover that over 80 percent of the ‘intelligence’ that the analysis side of the CIA produced was based on open public sources like newspapers and magazines.
    As he did to all the other secretaries of their departments and agencies, Reagan asked what he saw as his goal as director for the CIA, to which he replied with this quote, which I recorded in my notes of the meeting as he said it. Shortly thereafter I told Senior White House correspondent Sarah McClendon, who was a close friend and colleague, who in turn made it public. Barbara Honegger

    Understand why America is how it is today? The people are so dumbed down they do not even read the contracts that all who serve within our governments – state and federal, are bound by. Nor do we enforce them as all contracts are enforced.

    1. In Your post you suggest that you are the source of the infamous quote attributed to CIA Director Casey. Is that correct?

  12. Well, I am in NYS. Our overlords, when they’re done bankrupting the bars and restaurants to make sure people don’t get the flu, will be back on the microstamping bandwagon, I’m sure. And that’s why, when they’re not simply leaving behind the Adirondacks and Manhattan and all the other good stuff, New Yorkers are buying firing pins for their 1911s and other firearms, now. It’s a great investment. Like a Swiss bank account.

  13. Don’t these fools know the criminal can/will pick up the empty shells after firing his handgun. This is a backdoor attempt to prevent law abiding people from owning firearms.

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