Ahnold, We Thought We Knew Ye

If you recall, last month I reported on the California Senate’s passage of a bill requiring "microstamping" on firearms sold in California. Microstamping is a patented single-source process by which a firearm’s make, model, and serial number are laser-engraved on the tip of the firing pin so, in theory, that information is imprinted on any cartridge case fired in the gun.

Despite numerous studies that concluded the technology was unreliable’including a state-funded study done by the University of California that called microstamping a "flawed" technology’t he bill was passed, largely along "party lines." And you know what I mean when I say "party lines." But it would be ridiculous to think that the Republican Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, would actually sign such a misguided bill into law, wouldn’t it? Yes, it would. But, yes, he did. Why would he crawl into bed with the enemy?

Well, actually, he’s been sleeping with the enemy since 1986, when he married Maria Shriver. On the subject, Lawrence Keane, spokesman for the NSSF said: "The governor’s decision to mandate this unreliable technology is clearly one of family politics, not sound public policy." By "family politics, he was referring to Maria’s uncle, Ted Kennedy, who has announced plans to introduce a similar federal microstamping bill into the U. S. Senate.

Of course, for all I know, the Governator might also be sleeping with Todd Lizotte, who patented firearms microstamping, and with ID Dynamics, the company that owns the patent. As the sole source for firearms microstamping, it’s anybody’s guess how much money Lizotte and ID Dynamics will make as a result of Schwarzenegger’s signature. If that’s not bad enough, the Governor also signed into law a bill that bans traditional ammunition in the prime hunting areas of the state.

Assembly Bill 821, backed by anti-hunting extremists, is supposed to save the California condor from lead poisoning’d espite the fact that no one seems to be able to come up with any evidence that the birds are actually getting sick from eating ammo fragments. Advising the Governor on this issue was Marty Wilson, who, according to NSSF, "entered a business relationship" this year with the very-well-funded Audubon Society, which is known for spreading around money on its anti-hunting crusades.

It would be interesting to know where all that money ends up. Despite the bleak news from California, the news is decidedly mixed on the presidential-campaign front. While former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani tries to put a "positive spin" on his anti-gun record, my old friend Arizona Senator John Mc Cain was quoted recently saying something really profound for a politician. Mc Cain said: The Second Amendment is not about hunting, it’s about freedom. Now there’s an American who understands.