The new and heavily liberal legislative bodies now ensconced in Washington and in many statehouses across the nation now pose a slow equivalent to the march on Lexington and Concord that sparked the American Revolution. Taxation, regulation, and government inroads into personal liberty, including gun control, are now proliferating.

Many of our elected officials are using widespread ignorance and fear of guns and the fallout of immorality in the form of crime to help accomplish a disenfranchisement of the Second Amendment  piecemeal. They tout their proposals as measures to prevent crime or capture criminals, while completely ignoring the rights of victims and the average citizen.

A prime current example is the widespread spate of ammunition identification bills, proposed at the state level, all of which are very similar to the 2005/6 California legislature ammunition serialization bill, AB 352.

AB 352 was passed by both houses of the California legislature, but died in conference on November 30, 2006. Similar bills are now spreading across the nation for review under the new more liberal 2009 array of state legislators.

California was a close call. The good news is that even though ammunition serialization resolutions were introduced in five states in 2007 and 18 states in 2008, not a single resolution passed in any state. The bad news is that many state legislatures have become much more gun-control-friendly in the aftermath of the 2008 elections. These same ammunition serialization bills may not be defeated or allowed to die during this 2009/10 legislative cycle, as was the case in the past.

The ammunition serialization campaign is being organized by Ammunition Accountability, a lobbying arm of Ammunition Coding System, which has been working with state legislatures to get bills passed to mandate ammunition serialization on a state-by-state basis. There is a neon fox in the henhouse.

It happens that Ammunition Coding System would profit handsomely from such mandatory serialization. Although Russ Ford of Ammunition Coding System claimed vigorously during an interview on NRANews.com (posted on January 25, 2008) that his company was striving for complete transparency in its activities, as of January 19, 2009, there is still no link from the Ammunition Accountability website to the Ammunition Coding System website, and no link back the other way either.

Ammunition serialization amounts to individual markings stamped on the ammunition, both on the projectile and on the shell in which the projectile and propellant is encased. Viewing the 43-minute Russ Ford Ammunition Coding System video on this page at the NRANews.com site is very revealing. (Scroll to bottom of the linked page to see the video.)
 
To provide just a little taste of just how bad this ammunition serialization would be for gun owners, consider this excerpt from the online NRA webpage, "Encoded Ammunition"/Bullet Serialization," which was posted on January 15, 2008:

Reasons to Strenuously Oppose This Legislation

People would be required to forfeit all personally-owned non-encoded ammunition. After a certain date, it would be illegal to possess non-encoded ammunition. Gun owners possess hundreds of millions of rounds of ammunition for target shooting, hunting and personal protection. Consider that American manufacturers produce 8 billion rounds each year.

Reloading (re-using cartridge cases multiple times) would be abolished. There would be no way to correspond serial numbers on cartridge cases, and different sets and quantities of bullets.

People would be required to separately register every box of "encoded ammunition." This information would be supplied to the police. Most states do not even require registration of guns. Each box of ammunition would have a unique serial number, thus a separate registration.

Private citizens would have to maintain records, if they sold ammunition to anyone, including family members or friends.

The cost of ammunition would soar, for police and private citizens alike. The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturing Institute estimates it would take three weeks to produce ammunition currently produced in a single day. For reason of cost, manufacturers would produce only ultra-expensive encoded ammunition, which police would have to buy, just like everyone else.

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Mickey said:

	Is this against the LAW ? How can they pass a bill making illegal bullets you bought before this would Pass? No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
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January 22, 2009 | url
Votes: +8

Eri said:

what law? Mickey: If they will not respect or even recognize the constitutionally protected right of individual citizens to keep and bear arms suitable for defense of themselves, their communities, and the nation, why would one expect them to care about attainder and ex post facto? Manifestly they hate this portion of the constitution, refuse to uphold and defend it (in violation of many governmental oaths) and will continue to behave as if these civil rights did not exist if they are not held accountable to their duty.

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January 23, 2009
Votes: +12

JohnC said:

	... It would be impossible for them to stamp shotgun ammo .... wouldn't it? Also, what would be the point of stamping a projectile? More often than not, a projectile would be deformed on impact rendering the stamp illegible. The whole thing makes no sense. Liberalism is a mental disorder.
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January 23, 2009
Votes: +5

us_and _them said:

	get used to communism first a stamp then no ammunition at all it will happen! use your ammunition you have left wisely.
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January 23, 2009
Votes: +4

jimmy boy said:

	is it time yet??? Maybe we need to take what ammunition we have left to washinton and clean up this confusion they seem to have.
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January 23, 2009
Votes: +7

michael g.sheehan said:

	mr. ammunition causes crime like spoons cause fatness
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January 23, 2009
Votes: +5

Dave said:

	Hmm. Why should law abiding people constantly be penalized for the actions of another? Punish the criminal for once Or hold him financially responsible for once. But I can't say this isn't surprising. It seems that when ever a liberal Democrat gets in to office. the first thing they want to do is take our guns or restrict public lands......
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January 23, 2009 | url
Votes: +1

Dave said:

want my ammo Get used to righting your state representative or congressman and tell them how you feel. because this is the only way to perhaps put a end to what ever gun control ban you got aimed at you. The idiots back east cant seem to comprehed that they should chase criminals ant not law abiding folk. Unless of course the real reason for this gun control cra(p) is to protect them for when the peasents decide to rebel aginst the tyrant. They say a revolution is a good thing to happen every 200 houndred years or so. It gets rid of the bad blood, corruption and helps to keep government more focused real problems and not what non criminals are doing. I for one prefer to more peaceful aproach. By sending letters or e mails to my representatives or congressman. Perhaps these websites will help you out. http://www.house.gov/ http://www.senate.gov

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January 23, 2009 | url
Votes: +2

Dave said:

	Janet reno couldn't have said it better.... "Waiting periods are only a step. Registration is only a step. The prohibition of private firearms is the goal."- Janet Reno www.outdoorsunlimited.net ---The only ISP that protects your Rights to hunt, Fish and own a gun.
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January 23, 2009 | url
Votes: +1

Smokey said:

Constitution When the 2nd amendment is in danger the 1st amendment is not far behind. The pen may be mightier than the sword but if you do not have a firm grip on your sword some crafty young politician will come take your pen away from you with a stroke of his. When politicians want to disarm law abiding citizens you have to ask your self what they have in their agenda that would make them afraid of armed citizens.

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January 25, 2009
Votes: +4

libertas said:

	Constitution None of this is legal, but it has been a long time since the US Government has followed the Constitution.
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January 29, 2009
Votes: +0