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Gun Maker Will Limit Sales in Protest of California Law
LOS ANGELES — Smith & Wesson, the firearms manufacturer, announced Thursday that it would not sell new semiautomatic pistols in California because of its objections to a gun safety law that took effect in the state last May.
The Unsafe Handgun Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007, requires gun makers to use a technology called microstamping in new or upgraded gun models. Microstamping uses a laser to print a unique code on shell casings, making it easier for law enforcement to trace weapons involved in crimes.
California’s attorney general, Kamala D. Harris, certified the law last May after the technology for microstamping, previously encumbered by a patent, was made available in the public domain.
In a statement, Smith & Wesson’s chief executive, James Debney, called the law “poorly conceived” and the technology “unproven and unreliable.” He vowed to continue challenging the requirement and urged his company’s customers to support organizations that have filed suit against the law.
Smith & Wesson is the second gun maker to limit sales in California because of the law; Sturm, Ruger & Company said this month that it would do so.
California and the District of Columbia are the only two jurisdictions with gun safety regulations that require microstamping; several states, including New York, have proposed such laws.
Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Washington-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, characterized the gun companies’ actions in California as throwing a “temper tantrum” intended to appease the gun lobby. Microstamping, is “not newfangled technology,” he said, adding, “If the gun industry gave it half a chance, they’d save lives.”
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