Mission statement:

Armed and Safe is a gun rights advocacy blog, with the mission of debunking the "logic" of the enemies of the Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms.

I can be reached at 45superman@gmail.com.You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/45superman.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Ammunition encoding--a nationwide effort?

Last week, I took a look at four bills festering in the Illinois Politburo legislature that would require ammunition to be encoded with unique (from box to box) serial numbers. The expense of implementing such a program, coupled with the near utter lack of any utility as a crime-fighting tool, makes, I suspect, passage of any of these bills quite unlikely, even here in Illinois.

Still, the citizen disarmers are going to take their shots (no pun intended), and while we on the pro-rights side busy putting out fires, that's effort we won't be using to actually advance our cause. I can therefore see, from a tactical point of view, why introducing such bills is seen as worth it to them, even if they aren't likely to pass (and who knows--maybe I'm underestimating how bad things have gotten in Illinois, and they really do intend to make a real fight over this abomination).

It's a bit more surprising to me to see such legislation proposed in traditionally gun-friendly states, but it's happening. War on Guns tells us of such efforts (both House and Senate) in Tennessee. I suspect such efforts are especially quixotic in Tennessee, but as WoG points out, Tennessee did give us Al Gore, so I should perhaps not take anything for granted.

Mississippi is another southern state, generally perceived as pro-gun, that is considering such legislation. Interestingly, a look at the text of the bill shows that one of the cosponsors is newly elected Senator Eric Powell. I say "interestingly," because of Senator Powell's NRA endorsement, his platform that includes "Second Amendment rights," and his promise that he "will lead the opposition to any move in the legislature to undermine our Second Amendment rights." He certainly seems to be "lead[ing] the opposition" in a rather odd direction, doesn't he?

I realize that Sen. Powell does not come up for reelection until 2011, but I hope Mississippi gun owners and his district remember his treachery then.

5 comments:

MadRocketScientist said...

I'm starting to think the encoding effort is less about law enforcement and more about finding a way to make firearms and ammo more expensive/less appealing.

I really do think the people who put forth such ideas have absolutely no concept of the criminal mind nor how clever a gremlin can be when it stops to think for a second.

Kurt '45superman' Hofmann said...

I'm starting to think the encoding effort is less about law enforcement and more about finding a way to make firearms and ammo more expensive/less appealing.

I don't have any doubt of that.

Anonymous said...

Please don't blame Tennessee for Algore. Just because he owns some property in Tennessee doesn't mean he is from here. :) Algore is a Washingtonian (DC) and always has been.

Kurt '45superman' Hofmann said...

I didn't mean to malign your state (being an Illinoisan, I'm clearly in no position to do so, even if I wanted to)--every state is going to have some folks no one would want to claim.

Still, Gore's Senate career is going to indelibly associate with Tennessee, in people's minds. That may not be fair, but it's just one more reason that votes matter.

Unknown said...

After listening to the "gentleman" who is pushing this, it is clear to me, he only wants to make money from this scheme. At ten cents per box of ammo sold in the United States being paid in royalties to this man, he would obviously never have to work again.