By Peggy Tartaro,
Executive Editor

"They promised us flying cars-we should have flying cars by now!" said my friend (and our webmaster) Keeva, a life-long science fiction fan.

Keeva concludes that any number of seemingly outlandish products from science fiction have come to pass, but that the "flying car" has so far eluded us.

I, myself, no big fan of the genre, but having soaked up enough through my sister, am waiting for the "Transporter Room" to beam me from various locations in a blink or two of the eye-I don't really even mind if my luggage goes to Utopiaterra while I'm headed for Slyvanorb.

It's interesting that what used to be called "science fiction" has pretty much been broken into two distinct genres-science fiction itself and "fantasy." As my limited understanding of them goes, "science fiction" has some grounding in facts, and the novelists extrapolate (and even massage) known "science" to fit their fictional constructs-hence, flying cars.

"Fantasy" on the other hand, just makes stuff up-be it werewolves and vampires or societies of altruistic politicians who only serve one term and then go back to their organic soybean farms.

I dabble in both types of books, but am no big fan of either, so I apologize to those of you who are. But what brought flying cars and transporter rooms to mind was yet another round of proposed legislation hoping to enact "micro-stamping" laws, this time in New York State.

So what is "micro-stamping"? Well, I've turned to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the firearms trade group for some information. "Microstamping is a patented process that micro-laser engraves the firearm's make, model and serial number on the tip of the gun's firing pin so that, in theory, it imprints the information on discharged cartridge cases," according to NSSF's website (nnssf.org).

That sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Who wouldn't be in favor of a process that-if it actually worked-has a lot of real world, non-fantasy, law enforcement applications.
Alas, like a flying car, micro-stamping is something that sounds good, has some scientific basis and could someday be a reality, but is far from being available.

NSSF explains, further: "An independent, peer-reviewed, study published in the professional scholarly journal for forensic firearms examiners proved that the concept of microstamping is unreliable and does not function as the patent holder claims. It can be easily defeated in mere seconds using common household tools or criminals could simply switch the engraved firing pin to a readily available unmarked spare part, thereby circumventing the process.

"Experts at the University of California studied microstamping and concluded that microstamping is "flawed" and that "At the current time it is not recommended that a mandate for implementation of this technology [is made]. Further testing, analysis and evaluation is required."

"NSSF and other groups, including major law enforcement organizations, are opposed to mandating this unproven and unreliable concept. The cost of microstamping is a great concern to firearms owners and taxpayers alike. Microstamping legislation in California would not only have forced consumers of firearms to pay exorbitant price increases- well over $200 per firearm-to cover the increased cost of microstamping, but substantially higher taxes for the cost of microstamped law enforcement guns."

California actually enacted micro-stamping legislation that was to have gone into effect in January 2010. But Jerry Brown (at the time the state's attorney general and now its governor, and, historically, no big fan of guns and gunowners), decertified the program last year, because it was recognized as being unworkable.

A number of other technologies, including New York State's own CoBis program, which requires that, for every handgun sold in the state, the dealer send in a ballistic sample, have proven, if not unworkable-after all, the dealers are complying- totally without use.
In the 10 years that CoBis has been around, it hasn't solved one crime in the state. A similar program in Maryland has also failed to produce one conviction.

No one is against advances in technology, least of all gunowners, who have always enjoyed the latest new products. In the short, two decade life of this magazine, for example, we've seen any number of technological innovations that have startled, then delighted gunowners. The Glock is a fine example of something once thought unthinkable (or at best "science fiction").

But we are ever wary of ideas which seem to promise flying cars and deliver the same old gas (or tax) guzzlers, without benefit of either safety or security.

Peggy Tartaro

Photo © Copyright 1998 Nancy Floyd, used with permission.