Gun-grabbers: 1, Citizens: 0

 Politicians – mostly in “Blue” states – are desperate to impress their left-leaning constituents with their  “tough-as-nails” stance on gun violence. And in California they are well on their way toward winning the thinly disguised goal to altogether eliminate privately owned firearms.

For years, they have been chipping away at the second amendment rights of Californians through asinine legislation on ammunition and firearms with little or no affect on the crime rate regarding violence in which a gun is involved. Each year, it seems that each legislative session would not be complete without a massive number of bills restricting gun ownership and use.

It looks like this state’s gun-grabbers have finally hit the jackpot with the microstamping law. Every new weapon sold in the California is now required to have a laser-etched serial number engraved on the firing pin and breach.

The idea is that when the firing pin hits the primer it will leave an impression of the serial number on the primer of the spent cartridge. In Addition, the force of the cartridge against the breach (bolt or breach block) will leave an additional serial number impression on the edge of the cartridge.

So now you have easily identifiable rounds left at a crime scene. Ain’t technology great?

Sturm Ruger and Smith and Wesson don’t seem to think so. They have ceased all sales in California. That’s right folks; of all the hoops and hurdles being forced on gun makers, microstamping was one too many. The gun-grabbers have obtained their real objective  of forcing gun sales out of the state – at least for two of the high-quality brands of weapons.

Neither Ruger nor Smith and Wesson have ever made what could be remotely considered “Saturday night specials.”

Apparently, it makes no difference to the misguided lawmakers that their over-the-top law won’t work. They got the result they were after from two manufacturers and others are sure to follow the exodus.

Reason and logic have always been in short supply in Sacramento. Here are some of the things our not-so-astute lawmakers might have overlooked:

Topping the list is that Law Enforcement weapons are exempt from microstamping. This is absurd from two standpoints. First, how will cartridges from legally exempt weapons be recognized from those fired from weapons bought before the law went into effect? Second, now manufacturers are forced to make a civilian model and a police model just to sell in California.

If we discount the not-insignificant cost of laser etching firing pins and breaches, the concept falls flat on its face when you realize how easy it is to defeat the stamping. Due to the very small size of the etch, it would be easier to grind off the mictostamps than it is to remove the serial number from a gun’s frame.

What happens when a broken firing pin is replaced? Even if the replacement has been microstamped, it is unlikely to match the etching on the breach. Will that be a problem? Will the owner need to re-register the weapon?

And that’s another flaw in the law. Obviously, the original purchaser will need to register the gun – microstamp serial number and all. Additional buyers (second, third, etc.) will need to re-register, but how will they get the microstamp code? What happens if the weapon is stolen or lost and the owner is unaware  it is gone? He could now be charged with a crime he didn’t commit simply because he didn’t know his gun was taken without his knowledge and didn’t report the loss.

Are our lawmakers so inept and naive that they haven’t considered these flaws? Or are they merely sly enough to know that if they impose ridiculous regulations on manufacturers that gun makers will just quit selling in the state?

Today this oppression exists only in California, but you can bet other “Blue” states are taking a hard look at the underhanded tactics used here. The only question is how long will it be before microstamping laws spread across the country. Now that the gun-grabbers have found that they can achieve their goals by imposing economically restricting regulations on gun makers, they are very likely to create even more until there are no more manufacturers left in this country.

Our grandkids will ask, “Grampa, what was the second amendment all about?”

The 50 Years War

 No, I’m not talking about Lyndon Johnson’s war on the Vietnamese people or even the war in Afghanistan, although it seems like it has been at least 50 years long. Time flies when you’re getting shot at.

It was around 50 years ago that Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty. I remember it well. At the time, I was earning barely enough to put food on the table for my family – wife and three daughters. I didn’t consider us as impoverished, but going to University full-time and working two jobs left me tired and broke. A war on poverty didn’t sound so bad then.

Of course, the devil is always in the details. I soon found out that a rising tide doesn’t always float all boats. Mine must have been stuck in the mud.

Then President Johnson managed to create a HUD sponsored mortgage program for low-income applicants. It was the centerpiece of his war on poverty, intended to give everyone a chance at the American dream of home ownership. It sure gave the home construction industry a shot in the arm.

At that time, I lived in Indiana, just along the south end of Lake Michigan and had to drive through the city of Gary along I-94 to get to school and one of my jobs. Almost overnight the swampy and run-down area on both sides of the Interstate became filled with houses.

In the ‘60s the demographic of Gary was about 70 percent poor Blacks. President Johnson’s HUD program seemed to give nearly all of them a fine new start in the brand new houses along the Interstate. The new developments filled quickly, but within the next couple of years, the area became increasingly depopulated. It wasn’t long until it could easily qualify as a slum.

One day, as I drove by, I noticed heavy equipment leveling the area where just a few years before they had built fine new houses.

If you can remember, the ‘60s was also a time when the civil rights movement provoked huge changes in the racial tenor of the country. When I applied for a HUD mortgage, I was turned down even though I am certain I made more money than many of the people in the Gary housing developments. HUD said I didn’t earn enough to qualify. Really? They might as well have said I wasn’t black enough.

After 50 years, I believe we can declare Mr. Johnson’s war on poverty has fared no better than his war on Vietnam. Both were abject  -- and costly -- failures.

In his recent State of the Union address, Mr. Obama indicated that the middle-class is sinking ever deeper into the region of poverty despite the government’s relentless attempts to regulate and tax the life out of free enterprise. And now the Democrats are certain that raising the minimum wage by phenomenal amounts will pull people out of poverty.

Obviously, you can always tell a socialist, but you can’t tell them much. It looks like they will never learn that by strangling the life force out of business they are merely hastening the departure of the middle-class into poverty. Companies are not philanthropic enterprises created for the sole purpose of providing jobs.

As wages are forcibly increased, businesses will need to make adjustments to maintain their “bottom line.” There are only two ways to accomplish this: reduce the number of employees or raise prices. Either way results in everyone paying more for goods. Eventually, when wages and costs balance out again, those making the new “minimum wage” will find themselves in the hole again.

The best way to win the way on poverty has proven to be through free enterprise. If the politicians want to get serious about winning this war, they need to get out of the business of regulating and taxing businesses to death.