Sunday, January 24, 2010

Update on The California Roster of Handguns Certified for Sale

In this post I took a look at the California DOJ Roster of Handguns Certified for Sale and tried to determine if the DOJ Roster was a creeping handgun ban. While I did not conclude that the DOJ Roster was the same as an outright ban, I did identify several limitations to my analysis:
And nothing on this chart indicates the number of handguns offered for sale in the United States, but that have not been approved by the DOJ, or the number of guns introduced in any given year that are available for sale outside of California that have not yet been approved, or that have never been submitted for approval.
 The Sacramento Bee published this article on December 30, 2009.  It describes how the new firearm microstamping law has gone into effect, and how the law will  discourage gun makers from introducing new semi-automatic pistols into the California market.  Since microstamping will be a newly required "safety feature", it is required on all new pistols sold in the state, but since the technology is not free of patent encumbrances, the law is deferred.

Some statistics about new handgun approvals in the state are cited in the article that would have been useful in my previous post bout the DOJ Roster:
The Department of Justice's Bureau of Firearms is charged with approving weapons for sale in California each year. From 2002 to 2006, the bureau approved 72 new semi-automatic pistols on average each year.
In 2007, a law took full effect mandating that new center-fire semi-automatic pistols include both a mechanism that prevents firing when the magazine is removed, as well as an indicator showing when a live round is in the gun chamber. Rim-fire semi-automatics must have the magazine disconnect device.
In three years, the Bureau of Firearms has approved only nine new semi-automatic weapons, including only one in 2008.
 I know from talking to pistol shooters that magazine disconnect devices are very unpopular.  Most people consider them a dangerous "feature" that could get you killed if you ever use a handgun in self-defense.  But it is the numbers of new pistols approved that I wish could have included in my previous article that I am interested in most.  An I know that there were more than one model of semi-automatic pistols introduced in the U.S. in 2008.

I wish I could find out how many.

But with so few pistols being approved, then I think that the Roster is indeed going to resemble a handgun ban, but one that will take years to develop.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I was told by 3 (three) separate gun dealers who are licensed by the state and feds that the particular handgun I was looking for was not on the approved list. Why I asked why all three dealers gave basically the same answer but in their version.I was told that the make and model of handgun I was looking for was a new product for the manufacturer and that when the manufacturer approached congress in California for approval they were told that they needed to supply them with 12 guns for testing and $250,000. Now remind you that three different dealers in three different areas of the county said basically the same thing. In fact one of them said it sounds like the mob, you want to sell your product in my area you pay the piper and I tend to agree. What does congress need with 12 handguns and $250,000?

Left Coast Conservative said...

All too typical. Anymore I advise people to look at the roster before going to the gun shop. Saves time.

Also, I cannot tell you how many of my gun loving friends are thinking up ways to circumvent the Roster to get the guns they want.

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