Two years after abandoning a program to microstamp ammunition due to a lack of feasibility, California officials now sing a different tune and are again marching toward a new gun control regime.
The state attorney general’s office announced last week that the once unattainable goal is now within reach. Anti-gunners have long called for serializing shell casings even though the technology had not arrived.
Technology that did not work two years ago is now viable, according to California officials
The California State Department of Justice released a statement confirming their conclusion about microstamping.
“Based on this investigation, the DOJ has determined that it is technologically viable for microstamping components (engraved firing pins) to imprint a unique microscopic array of characters, referred to as a ‘microstamp,’ on spent cartridge cases discharged by a firearm into which the microstamping component has been installed.”
The Golden State already has a 2028 goal of forcing microstamping features onto semi-automatic pistols. This technology, however, has never been proven viable.
Officials curiously offered no proof that microstamping is ready for mass deployment
Industry experts caution that there is zero proof that California officials indeed have a reliable system ready to implement.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s (NSSF) Mark Oliva blasted the unproven process that the state wants to unleash on its citizens.
“It is beyond comprehension how California’s Department of Justice determined that microstamping is viable when so many studies, including those by a microstamping patent owner, have demonstrated that it isn’t.” Oliva warned. “Microstamping, even in ideal laboratory conditions, cannot deliver decipherable and repeatable alphanumeric and gear code combinations that could be used.”
What is more likely in California’s case is that anti-gunners conducted a study with a foregone conclusion.
That’s because the results claimed from the recent study have not been verified elsewhere despite years of research and testing.
It was just over two years ago when state officials abandoned the aspect of the so-called Unsafe Handgun Act that called for the microstamping requirement. In March 2023, AG Rob Bonta (D) appealed a federal court’s decision on a controversial gun control law that featured the mandate.
This proved that even the most rabid anti-Second Amendment forces can be forced to concede. It also flies in the face of decades of opposition to the right to keep and bear arms by state lawmakers.
In 2007, California began requiring that all new pistols feature a loaded chamber indicator and magazine disconnect safety. Six years later, lawmakers added the mandate that microstamping technology would be utilized to imprint every round fired with traceable markings.
The industry fought back, correctly noting that no such firearm exists commercially and there are no prospects for one.
Federal District Judge Cormac J. Carney brought sanity to the issue in 2023 when he agreed with gun rights advocates that the rule was untenable. The judge declared in his determination that the microstamping technology required by lawmakers is “simply not commercially available or even feasible to implement on a mass scale.”
Fast forward to 2025, and suddenly, state officials are convinced that enough advancements have been made to warrant returning to this unproven program.
This despite offering no evidence that microstamping is now a viable option that will not infringe on Second Amendment rights. It stands to reason that if the process worked as well as it would need to, authorities would have trotted the evidence out for all to see.
Likely, it doesn’t.
What it does indicate is a lengthy legal battle ahead. That’s yet another reason why it is critically important to get involved and support those groups that support your fundamental freedoms.
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