Forums / Gun Discussion / Reality on Ammo Coding

Blogs:
Discuss Merlo's stance on marked bullets at our Bakosphere blog
"Ammunition Accountability," a newly formed group of ammunition coding supporters, is working to pass legislation to make ammo-coding a reality. Using laser etching, the group wants to place an alpha-numeric serial number on the back of each bullet, round or cartridge manufactured in the U.S. The idea is that it will control criminals by identifying brass or empty shells left at a crime scene and then following up the number on the back to find out who purchased the offending bullet. Gee...it almost makes sense, doesn't it? That's exactly what they want you to think, but don't fall for this newest attack on our heritage.

There must be some airborne disease floating all around that causes some normally sane and rational people to think of more stupid things to do to our society in the name of safety for the masses. This proposed law is basically one of those things.

We are a free people, yet each day we see our freedoms eroded by well-meaning do-gooders intent on sabotaging our basic rights gifted to us under the Constitution. Patriot Benjamin Franklin once wrote that "A society that gives up its rights in the interest of governmental protection and safety guarantees that it will neither be safe, nor free."

In other words, one doesn't give up rights to protect rights, and that's exactly what this proposed law is trying to do -- disarm the American people and do away with the Second Amendment of the Constitution.

Here are a dozen reasons why the proposed legislation will never work:

1. Criminals will never use stamped bullets. There are hundreds of billions of unmarked cartridges floating around that are easily obtainable. Instead, a law like this will only spawn an "unstamped bullet" black market.

2. Laser-etching each bullet is expensive, adding about a half-cent to each round manufactured, i.e. $2.50 addtional for each box of already-expensive .22 rimfire or pistol ammunition. If buying bullets becomes too high for the average person to purchase, then gun control advocates have their population-disarming agenda within reach.

3. No one will be able to purchase unmarked ammo after June 30, assuming the new ammo will be available on July 1.

4. Government will know the exact amount and caliber one purchases after that date, a total invasion of privacy.

5. All privately owned and uncoded ammo will have to be destroyed by July 1, 2011. Once again, this is gun control; no bullets, no guns. See how easy it is?

6. The system will not necessarily prove who pulled the trigger, but will quite possibly target the innocent.

7. The proposed law targets handloaders, too.

8. A licensing fee for each bullet sold will be required.

9. Ammunition retailers will incur administrative costs which will ultimately be passed on to the retail purchaser, thereby increasing the cost for a box of shells even more to the purchaser.

10. There are only a few ammunition manufacturers who can design and build the necessary equipment, meaning that many manufacturers would go out of business. One can then expect another governmental bureaucracy to be created to control the chaos.

11. Habitual criminals do not use registered guns, nor will they use registered ammo.

12. Eighteen states have this legislation currently pending, including California, a state where common sense legislation is an oxymoron.

Now, if you feel that we can all live with this law, go ahead and champion it, but if you feel the same way I do, hurry up and notify your state legislators about the stupid, inane, restrictive and rights-stealing proposal now before them. Do it now, before this thing starts to freight-train with the idiots already in charge of making our lives safer.

Remember, it's not just about our guns, it's about our rights -- the few they have left us.

Opinions expressed in this column are those of Steve Merlo, not The Bakersfield Californian

• Login or register to post comments