NFR: HB3359 seeks to serialize handgun ammo

[Roper]

Well they can't get our guns so they are going after the bullets. This isn't some scare tactic, they want to disarm us, one way or the other.
This bill is just the beginning. What a waste of our tax dollars to set up a database to "track" bullets. Where is the funding for this pork barrell???

Legislation has been proposed in Olympia that poses a very serious threat to our Right to Keep and Bear Arms and it needs to be stopped immediately.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2007-08/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/3359.pdf

House Bill 3359, sponsored by State Representatives Al O’Brien (D-1), Brendan Williams (D-22), Dennis Flannigan (D-27), and Jamie Pedersen (D-43), would require that all handgun ammunition manufactured or sold in Washington to be coded with an individual serial number, and entered into a statewide database at the time of sale. Encoded ammunition would be registered to the purchaser and would include the date of transaction, the purchaser’s name, date of birth, driver’s license number, and the serial number of the ammunition.



This dangerous bill needs to be stopped now. HB3359 only serves to harass law-abiding gun owners, as criminals are not likely to purchase ammunition through legal channels. Please contact your State Senator and your State Representative today and respectfully urge them to oppose HB3359. Contact information for your State Legislators can be found by visiting http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/statewide.aspx.

Here's some of the proposed changes:

31 (18) "Coded ammunition" means ammunition that carries a unique
32 alphanumeric identifier that has been applied by etching onto the base
33 of the bullet projectile and the inside of the cartridge casing and
34 that meets the following requirements:
35 (a) The base of the bullet and the inside of the cartridge casing
36 of each round in a box of ammunition are encoded with the same unique
37 alphanumeric identifier;
1 (b) The unique alphanumeric identifier is engraved in such a manner
2 that it is highly likely to permit identification after ammunition
3 discharge and bullet impact;
4 (c) The outside of each box of ammunition is labeled with the name
5 of the manufacturer and the same alphanumeric identifier used on the
6 bases of bullets contained in the box; and
7 (d) Ammunition contained in one ammunition box is not labeled with
8 the same alphanumeric identifier as the ammunition contained in any
9 other ammunition box from the same manufacturer.
10 (19) "Pistol ammunition" means all ammunition principally for use
11 in pistols, notwithstanding that the ammunition may also be used in
12 other firearms, including bullets used for reloading or handloading
13 pistol ammunition.---

[kodiaksalmon]

Damn, thanks Roper.

[Josh]

I'm confused, your gun won't shoot correctly if it has numbers in it? Must be like my brain and math.

[Roper]

I'm confused, your gun won't shoot correctly if it has numbers in it? Must be like my brain and math.

No, it's just your brain period. I assume you think this is good use of our tax dollars? Do you think for one moment the ammo makers are going to tool up for this just to sell ammo in Washington? Hell no...

No ammo, no shoot, no math required....

[Derek Day]

Aside from the costs associated with such a bill, why do you have a problem with this bill?

If anything, a bill like this would further secure an individual's right to keep and bear arms by making the illegal use of handguns more difficult. One of the most compelling arguments for stricter regulation of hadguns is their use in the commission of crimes. By making it easier to get caught in the commission of a crime involving the discharge of a handgun you would in effect undermine one of the most compelling arguments for restricting individuals from owning handguns. Aside from costing a bit more money to fire a handgun, this bill would not seriously erode the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms.

That aside, if it were only a state wide program, people who were going to use a hand gun to commit a crime would use either stolen ammunition or ammunition from another state. Therefore, I agree that it's a stupid waste of money.

[Josh]

No, it's just your brain period. I assume you think this is good use of our tax dollars? Do you think for one moment the ammo makers are going to tool up for this just to sell ammo in Washington? Hell no...

No ammo, no shoot, no math required....

I only posted that to get a rise out of you Roper.

Personally, I don't care one way or the other if bullets have numbers or not. I'd buy them either way. Being identifiable doesn't scare me. My government anger and fears are aimed in other directions.

[alpinetrout]

Done.

[Josh]

Just out of random curiosity, as I hadn't ever really thought about it before, I wonder where criminals do get their ammunition. Offhand, I would guess they go to G.I. Joes or Walmart like everyone else. If they are smart, they pay in cash.

[PT]

Done.

What are you saying? It's a done deal? Or, you're done with this topic?

[alpinetrout]

"Done" as in I sent email to my local representative pointing out that with as many issues as our state faces, it's embarassing that our lawmakers are wasting time on something that will have no noticeable effect on crime and be a huge inconvenience for non-criminals.

[Chris Puma]

oh sh*t. i'm gonna get a ton of flack for writing this so don't take it personally.

i'm missing how you're freedom of being a gun owner is being infringed upon. you're bullets still work. they go things just as well. it's just inconvience, right?

if you're not committing any crimes in the near future i wouldn't lose any sleep over this...

i do agree that this does not answer the problem of illegal crimes committed with guns. it certainly doesn't hurt does it?

[alpinetrout]

i'm missing how it's a dangerous law to harass people who own guns?

That could be one of the dumbest statements I have ever read. You're saying that it's ok for lawmakers to create laws designed simply to harass people. Great idea.

[PT]

Sorry Chris but many of us see the fanatacism from the opposite perspective. Don't think for a second criminals will buy these things at the store, be entered in a data base, go commit a crime with said bullet, then be tracked down because of a shell they left at the crime scene with their serial number on it. HB3359 only serves to harass law-abiding gun owners, as criminals are not likely to purchase ammunition through legal channels.

All it's going to do is waste a substantial amount of money keeping track of the data from law abiding citizens who are not the people out committing criminal acts in the first place.

[Chris Puma]

That could be one of the dumbest statements I have ever read. You're saying that it's ok for lawmakers to create laws designed simply to harass people. Great idea.

haha. dude, i didn't even write that?

[Mathew]

That could be one of the dumbest statements I have ever read. You're saying that it's ok for lawmakers to create laws designed simply to harass people. Great idea.

It's only a dumb statement because you didn't read it, you just rewrote it and quoted it as fact.


Watch this, I can do it too.

I wear womans underwear at the local militia meetings, don't tell the general.