California has a law that requires all new models of auto loading hand boom sticks (pistols) be equipped with "mircostamping". If the gun is not on the current list of approved guns for sale, it has to have this anti-crime technology.
CA has some interesting rules about the list of approved guns, any change in the model requires it to be resubmitted for approval. (So the gun model that was put on the approval list in 1982 that no longer meets the state laws gets a change - like with cars new hand grip, change in button placement, etc - it has to comply with current laws or it can't be sold in CA.)
Well, Ruger and Smith & Wesson have announced that they won't be putting the micro-stamping in their guns they are making changes to or their new guns. This effectively means their semi-automatic handguns won't be sold in CA any more. Fewer being sold is fewer being used in crimes and suicides.
More details and such after the squiggle.
S&W is taking the "oh, look how bad and evil the CA laws are" stand that gun makers use to get their NRA fanatics all worked up over. (These are different than responsible gun owners who belong to the NRA because of the Safety Programs and Hunter Education) They are playing it up as a "gun ban", that the CA law is keeping guns from being sold in CA and the CA Gov will be going after more guns soon!
S&W COULD sell their new guns IF they would just put micro-stamping on their firing pins. So why won't they? (why won't Ruger?)
From their news statement "Smith & Wesson does not and will not include microstamping in its firearms. A number of studies have indicated that microstamping is unreliable, serves no safety purpose, is cost prohibitive and, most importantly, is not proven to aid in preventing or solving crimes. The microstamping mandate and the company’s unwillingness to adopt this so-called technology will result in a diminishing number of Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistols available for purchase by California residents."
Unreliable, no safety purpose, cost prohibitive and not proven to solve crimes.
Hmm, unreliable? A micro-stamp already exists on every gun, the firing pin. I can look at the pin dimple of my SKS and my AK variant and tell you which gun fired the round. All micro-stamping does is set up an unique number or mark that will imprint on the casing when fired. If the marking is unreliable, then the gun is not firing each time you pull the trigger! Is S&W claiming that their guns won't fire each time you pull the trigger? I'm sure your customers don't care if the gun shoots each time they pull the trigger.
No safety purpose. Well this is true, micro-stamping is not a safety measure, it is an anti-crime measure. That is like saying having an power locks on your car serves no safety purpose, or the Lo-Jack serves no safety purpose, or the car alarm.
Cost prohibitive? only because you did not design it in when you designed the new guns and modified the old ones. The change is simple, applies to one part (the firing pin in most cases but does not have to be that, maybe some smart engineer would be willing to help you with that). One would think that losing sales to whole state with over 1.8 million gun owners might be "cost prohibitive".
The last, "not proven to solve crimes". Ok, you got us on that one. No record currently exists that shows micro-stamping (that currently is not on guns) has solved a crime. But, and i'm going on a limb here, if guns started having micro-stamping, this would happen. More likely the police will be able to tie specific guns to the crime even if they don't have the gun! Being able to know S&W 45 Auto #1234 has been used at crime site #1, 3, 4, and 6 where an S&W 45 Auto was used at all six sites, would be a big help to the police. Knowing that they are looking four crimes that were done by the same person vs six crimes committed by six people may not "solve" a crime, but would be very helpful.
Add in that it would be a quicker way to ID evidence. No, in the real world comparing bullets does not take a commercial break, months often because of the skill and time it takes. Lining up marks between two bullets over and over vs looking for a number. When that is combined with a registration requirement, now you can take that number, see who owned the gun and have a starting point.
But hey, S&W wants to play this as a gun ban in CA and it may be working. DC city Council fell over its self to roll back their law requiring micro-stamping till 2016.
I guess S&W is thinking that they will win in the end or are hopping for CA gun owners to cross over to other states and illegally buy and smuggle guns into CA. Since they Supreme Court is hearing a case today to overturn the "Straw-man purchases" law they may be right. (Abramski v. United States)