Micro-stamping, well-intended but useless

/ hsoi

Via Sebastian I’m referred to a great article by The Arizona Rifleman on why microstamping is useless. Intentions may be good, but we know what paves the road to Hell, right?

The biggest issue is that if it’s aimed to stop crime or help police solve a crime, it just won’t do that. Either the criminal will avoid the microstamped guns, will modify their microstamped guns, or use microstamping to their advantage to cast someone else into the mix — likely an innocent person — and either frame them or just cause mounds of legal trouble for the innocent person. There’s just too much risk of problem and increased cost in this, and no benefit towards the desired goal.

If you can demonstrate a way to hurt the criminals and not hurt the law-abiding citizens, I’m all for it. But when the efforts do exactly the opposite, how can one lobby for their support? unless I guess you like helping criminals and hurting law-abiding folk.

6 thoughts on “Micro-stamping, well-intended but useless”

  1. I thought about this some when we had the boycott debate on your blog.

    The only way I could ever possibly want this would be if the functionality could be enabled and disabled at will.

    If I’m at the range, I would want it off. If I’m in public with my CCW, I would want it on.

    But … I still can’t see it taking off on its own merits.

    • If it can be disabled like that, then what’s the point? Most people — especially the criminals — would leave it off. Defeats their desired intent/purpose behind doing it.

      There’s no good reason for this. Well-intended reasons perhaps, but good reasons? no.

      • The point is that it would be another piece of evidence pointing to the fact that you acted in self defense. If you had intended to murder someone you wouldn’t leave your signature on the casings if you could easily turn it off and be anonymous.

        Even the article you link to says it might be useful for cops.

        But, again, I’m not saying it’s something I want, just that I can see where someone else might.

        • Sure, I could see that. But they’ll never manufacture it or author legislation to let it be done that way since that just allows the bad guys to turn it off and totally defeats their purpose. Remember, this isn’t being done to help us good guys in ways like you or the original article describe, so they will not drive it home based upon any of those points. This is being proposed as a supposed “crime fighting” measure.

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