‘Bad guys don’t typically go into Wal-Mart and pick up their rounds’
October 20th, 2009
So says Assemblyman Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, about the new California law requiring a thumb print and a driver’s license to purchase firearm ammunition while Gun stores are preparing for ammo restrictions
The most important piece of the new law, which has already drawn the ire of the National Rifle Association and some Republican lawmakers, is a requirement that anyone purchasing handgun ammunition provide his or her name, address, phone number and thumbprint. Gun stores will have to keep those records – which also include the type, brand and amount of ammunition sold to customers – and allow police to go through them.
This won’t stop anyone from buying ammo. All it will do is provide an after-the-fact paper trail for someone to follow if necessary. So make sure that everyone realizes that this can do nothing whatsoever to prevent any crimes.
Let’s say that a determined killer needs ammo for his illegal hand gun. He goes to Wal-Mart, shows his ID and gives a thumb print, buys his ammo, and kills ten people. Later, the police can track the purchase down and find out that he bought two boxes of ammunition.
Wow. That’s going to take a bite out of crime.
“The bad guys always seem to get what they need, but we keep making it harder and harder for law-abiding citizens,” [Assemblyman Curt Hagman, R-Chino Hills] said of the new law, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law last week. The statute takes effect Feb. 1, 2011.
All this can do to help is to make sure that government officials can track down law-abiding individuals if it wants to.
Tags: CA
October 20th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Well, yes.
Criminals don’t overturn governments … angry peasants do. Gun control laws are aimed at angry peasants.
You know … us.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Wall Mart doesn’t sell ammo in California any more. Something to do with a lawsuit, can’t remember the particulars.
The bill is worse than that though. There is no provisions for secrecy or standards for storing the records that the gun store accumulates. They are available to anyone from government that asks for them. There is a risk of their theft and resulting identity theft.
All this bill did was make it profitable to sell ammo black-market style. It’s not illegal to buy out of state and bring it in, which is what most, including myself will do. Some will do this and sell it under the table to make a buck, and California will have created yet another class of unenforceable, victim-less crime. I’d say it creates a back-door gun registration, but they already register handguns here.
There is a Cabelas just across the border on I-80. That will become a popular pistol ammo retailer. I’ll just have my parents buy it in Idaho and bring it back with me.
Not to mention it does nothing to riffle ammo, so criminals are free to just switch calibers.