New Yorkers about to give up last hope of gun ownership

New York State legislators are pushing through firearm microstamping legislation (A.1157B) which intentionally creates firearm manufacturing rules so difficult to implement that most firearms manufacturers just won’t bother selling into New York anymore and those few left making guns in New Y0rk are likely to leave.

New York already has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, but has failed to see any real reduction in violent crime. So instead of fixing the real issue (law maker’s and law enforcerment’s  inability to end inner-city crime) they go after a popular target: gun makers and gun owners.

Micro-stamping forces gun makers to manufacture and install firing pins with the ability to create tiny stamps on the cartridge casings of the rounds they fire. This is a burden on the manufacturer and on the first person to buy the weapon (which is often a dealer, not the actual first owner).

As defined in the proposed legislation:

Firearm microstamping is a revolutionary forensic technology that produces an identifiable alpha-numeric and geometric code onto the rear of the cartridge casing each time a semiautomatic pistol is fired.

Micro-stamping has several flaws:

– The original purchaser is usually a gun store owner or firearms wholesaler, not the first person to actually keep the gun for personal use

– A firearms manufacturer now has to produce different models for New York, California and the rest of the nation

– As the microstamp is only on the casing (the part of the cartridge that holds the bullet) anyone planning to commit a crime would simply go to a New York shooting range, pick up the fired brass, use those mirco-stamped and reload them. Then then the craft criminal could blame his crime on YOU.

– If you decide to replace your pistol’s firing pin with a titanium striker or other match grade device, you’ve just committed a crime – no more competition upgrades for New Yorkers.

The law is obviously not about tracking firearms or cartridges. The law is about making it impossible for firearms manufacturers and retailers to survive in New York.

Lately, firearms businesses have been moving to Texas and the Mid-West in droves. Tens of thousands of American manufacturing jobs are being shunned by New York Democrats like Assemblywoman Michelle Schimmel. What’s more important? Keeping guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens or keeping jobs in a state that sorely needs them?

New York residents have two choices: Decide that any rightful New Yorker should own a firearm or agree with the Democrats that only the criminals should have guns. This law will only prevent lawful ownership of firearms as the gun industry continues to move out of over-regulated states and gun dealers find other locals in which to make money.

If you live in New York and think that Ms. Schimmel is wrong, let your state legislator know before it’s too late..