On February 28, 2024 New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin’s office announced that provisions in a 2022 law have been allegedly met concerning so-called “microstamping” technology. In 2022, Governor Phil Murphy, D-NJ, signed into law P.L. 2022, c. 57., which put into statute several provisions governing and defining microstamping technology. As we’re aware, microstamping has not been a viable technology, with California’s similar law having not found on the market a single firearm with microstamp technology. It does not exist.
What is microstamping? According to statute in the Garden State, they define a microstamping component to be “a component of a firearm that will produce a microstamp on at least one location of the expended cartridge case each time the firearm is fired.”
The concept is that a firearm that expels a spent cartridge casing after a shot is fired, a unique identification number or mark would be imprinted on the casing. That number or mark would correspond with a given state’s handgun registry if one exists. New Jersey is a state with a handgun registry. Proponents of the measure allege this will help identify the owner of a firearm used in the commission of a crime. For states without registries, peace officers would have to rely on the same tracing tactics used with conventional serial numbers since a federal firearm registry is illegal.
Platkin’s release noted that “Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today announced that, based on both live-fire testing results and existing peer-reviewed studies, microstamping technology is a viable means of matching an expended cartridge case to the weapon from which it was discharged.” There was no breakdown on how much of Platkin’s decision was weighted by “peer-reviewed studies” or actual concrete results. The law indicates that “[t]he investigation shall include, but need not be limited to, live-fire testing evidence” and that “upon designation of the first microstamping-enabled firearm, the examiner shall create a microstamp roster, which shall include each firearm so designated.”
There’s no indication on what firearm is the “first microstamping-enabled firearm,” so it’s not abundantly known how Platkin is able to say the technology is viable. Whatever firearm was used in testing is supposed to be on the roster. The make and model of the alleged first microstamping-enabled firearm has not yet been released.
Regardless of whether this is a speculative or corporeal finding, that has not stopped Attorney General Platkin from announcing the triggering of the rest of the statute. “This technology gives law enforcement an innovative tool to identify crime guns and bring perpetrators to justice,” said Attorney General Platkin. “Now that we have certified that this technology is viable, we urge gun manufacturers to adopt microstamping technology in their production facilities and apply for placement on New Jersey’s microstamping-enabled firearms roster.”
Noticeably absent from Platkin’s remarks about tracking such firearms are the many holes in his theory that this technology will help identify alleged crime guns.
For starters, there’s nothing that’s going to stop a person from filing off any microstamping component from any given arm, thus subverting the goals of having a trace registry. The law states that anyone who “willfully removes, damages, alters, or otherwise tampers with a microstamping enabled firearm to prevent or alter the production of a microstamp shall be guilty of a third degree crime.”
Someone intent on committing a crime with a firearm is not likely to be worried about defacing a microstamping-enabled component any more than they would be deterred from filing off conventional serial numbers. The compounding of criminal activity on top of more criminal acts is meaningless to the criminal element, and laws like these only affect the law-abiding.
Platkin and his cohorts also do not address that the majority of so-called crime guns are stolen or that crimes are not committed by the original purchaser of a given arm. Having a microstamp is only as effective as a serial number, which we’ve already seen post-1968, only to be minimally effective in tracing some firearms used in crime.
The law would force firearm dealers, much like the beguiled so-called “smart gun” law(s), to offer for sale a microstamping-enabled firearm once it is available on the market. The original 2002 New Jersey “smart gun” law exposed too much of the hand of the anti-gunners, and it outright prohibited the sale of any firearms that were not “smart” once the technology was considered viable. The failed law was revamped in 2019 and only required dealers to offer for sale and hold in inventory a firearm with the equipped technology rather than force the rest of the firearms off the market – yet.
It’s speculated that these types of provisions governing such technologies are only being put into place to eventually outlaw any other firearm not similarly equipped in the future. The 2002 smart gun law created a chilling effect, and only one alleged smart gun manufacturer – during the time the original law was in effect – had produced a product that resembled a smart gun, and it was deemed not viable as the firearm’s system was easily bypassed utilizing a magnet.
“In preparation for the opening of the microstamping roster application process in the next few months, Attorney General Platkin has named firearms expert Reinaldo Roldan as the State’s designated Microstamping Examiner,” Platkin’s release explained. “In that capacity, Mr. Roldan will administer the application process consistent with the standards and qualifying criteria issued by the Attorney General’s Office. Once a firearm is approved for inclusion in the microstamping roster, New Jersey gun retailers will be required to make available for sale at least one gun from the roster.”
AmmoLand contacted Scott Bach, the Executive Director of the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, to discuss Platkin’s announcement. “Microstamping is a failed idea that has been rejected by most states over the past few decades,” Bach said. “It can be easily thwarted by changing an inexpensive firearms part. Its sole value is to politicians looking for an excuse to ban self-defense tools from law-abiding citizens, by declaring all conventional ammunition illegal and requiring a useless technology that no one actually makes and has no real crime-solving value.”
Garden State firearm owners and dealers will have to see what comes next. The alleged technology is available, according to Platkin, but it still remains a mystery what firearm make and model comes standard with microstamping-enabled technology included. What is clear is that Platkin and Murphy’s hatred for firearms and civil liberties lives strong within the activation of this law. This is an administration hellbent on supporting any provision subverting constitutionally protected hardware and or activities.
About John Petrolino
John Petrolino is a US Merchant Marine Officer, writer, author of Decoding Firearms: An Easy to Read Guide on General Gun Safety & Use and NRA certified pistol, rifle, and shotgun instructor living under and working to change New Jersey’s draconian and unconstitutional gun laws. You can find him on the web at www.johnpetrolino.com on twitter at @johnpetrolino, facebook at @thepenpatriot and on instagram @jpetrolinoiii .
I’ll bet the house that this political ass hat is lying and he can’t produce a weapon that will microstamp.
From my understanding, there is one traitor company that has been working on developing one and that thought they had it. They gave it to a police force in kommiefornia and it did not work 40 percent of the time so they kicked it back. Kommiefornia wanted to go with it and make it the only gun that their surfs could by. The courts stepped in and said no way just about a month ago on a different case regarding the few guns that they were allowed to have and the capacity rule. It was found unconstitutional but then again,… Read more »
Microstamping is such a stupid idea. The whole firearm serial number tracing thing is entirely stupid — in 99.9999% of cases it provides only add-on charges and doesn’t solve the root of the crime or find the perpetrator. Defeating the microstamp is ridiculously easy and it will wear off the firing pin after a few hundred rounds.
I think the main goal is to create guns that are POS and you cannot depend on it to do the job when you need it. If they can come up with one that worked 100% of the time, kommiefornia would have adopted it as the only gun the surfs could buy. Thank God a new ruling just came out that limiting the amount of bullets a gun can hold is unconstitutional and the list of kommiefornia approved guns is unconstitutional too but I expect Newsome to find a go around like he has with Bruen. The one I find… Read more »
ONLY 23,000? With the “new”/old IDIOTS passing Un-CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS that figure is WAY OVER 25,000.
Just as the 40,000 figure used for ILLEGALS in America, that figure IS WAY OVER 100,000 bodies!
I just got an email from a friend that biden flew over 250,000 illegals into American air ports from foreign lands without any check system, bypassing border patrol. They are not adding that number to the millions that have crossed during his stolen presidency.
Trump 2024
Remember; these DemoKKKrats and their ILK have tried to pass laws that IF you MODIFY ANY PART of you gun, you MUST notify the BURACRATIC OFFICE of THE ATF!
IT HAS FAILED TO PASS!
MRGA
Make Revolvers Great Again
One thing I’ve learned throughout my years…..
There’s always a way around anything.
I am sorry for any remaining FFLs in NJ. Please move elsewhere. Let the industry follow the Barrett model. No firearm sales to NJ. None! Including LE and government. If it has a NJ postal code, shipping address, banking address or is within 25 miles of the NJ border, NOPE, none. FFLs within a 250 mile radius, just like NY wants no sales to NY or NJ residents or businesses. Eventually they’ll figure out the stupidity.
nothing to the goobers not even caps, the fellons will visit free states and terrorize the commies
the industry owes us!!! We buy their products and keep them in business. STOP selling guns and ammo to police in totalitarian states. Starve them of ammo. Police wearing a uniform of a totalitarian state are nazis and should be treated as such. There are no good nazis!!! PERIOD! Spare me the I need to feed my family or the I’m just waiting for my pension to fund. STOP BEING A BAD GUY!!!!! Burn your uniform, move, go ply your trade in a free state. Stop being an A**hole supporting the bigger A**HOLES NO AMMO, NO GUNS, NO CLEANING KITS,… Read more »
This effort represents more magical thinking from Progressive New Left thunk tanks dedicated to eliminating your natural, God Given rights. In this case they take a discredited and impractical technical answer to a moral problem and try to inflict it and its costs on a public dedicated to preserving freedom. Where there is a will there is a. way. You have to understand the basic fallacy in progressive thought: you can find technical solutions to moral problems. You cannot. Fix the moral. Go to church. Fear God. As for peer reviewed studies you have to understand to qualify as a… Read more »
Stupidity and ignorance I can live with; it’s ubiquity doesn’t leave us much of a choice. But lying, I abhor. NJ governor Murphy and the AG, Platkin, know damn well that the microstamping technology for guns are only in the experimental stage, at best. These laws are only to put another barrier to law-abiding citizens exercising their constitutional rights. At this rate, the obsessed haters of guns will not relent until there’s a swift kick in the ass by SCOTUS.
or they have their own jfk moment
Felons don’t care about this because they don’t follow laws and wouldn’t shave off the pin or what is making the impression because it is not their gun in the first place. Second, if someone really wanted to not have a case fall to the ground, they could easily put a bag on the pistol or rifle, like I have, so all the casings are captured so you don’t have to pick them up to dump them in the box for reloading later. Stupid people making stupid laws. They try the same shit in kommiefornia with catalytic converters and smog… Read more »
mob needs to clean up nj and ny or we need to turn them into a prison
Kommiefornia’s emissions laws are ironic to the point of absurdity. Holley makes kits to retrofit older vehicles with EFI. We all know that EFI will run cleaner and get better mileage than carbs. Never mind that the “smog control” carbs on cars from the 70’s & 80’s are a nightmare to tune and maintain. You need “permission” from the state to swap a newer engine into an older car subject to smog inspection. The Holley EFI is a no go in CA because it allows the user to alter air fuel ratio and because Holley won’t spend tens of thousands… Read more »
That is how I bought the 1993 Geo tracker i have. Would not pass commiefornia smog and ran like crap. Put and new CO2 unit in and changed the throttle body to a non commiefornia and it ran great for a year and then I rebuilt it. 700 bucks 13 years ago had 280,000 when I got it. Perfect for towing behind a motorhome because it is light and you don’t need a break unit by law.
I believe Mat Plotkin should stamp every cartridge on the center of the Primer cap.
I wonder where Morons like this were educated!?!
Microstamping . . . Because criminals won’t figure out how to file the tip of the firing pin, or put a new firing pin into the firearm. This is really just a way to increase the cost of firearms to discourage an armed citizenry.
Matt Platkin needs to be subpoenaed by Congress every year to report on and identify every case of violence with a handgun was solved, meaning the sole and only clue to the perpetrator, with this technology. While he is there, report on the same with tracing by serial number. Just to prove validity of his theory.
Chicago had a situation a couple years back. Handgun used in crime, gun gone, casings in abundance. they collected some, ran the imprint traces, could not figure out who’s gun it was. A bit later, new crime more v=brass, proven tonbef rom the same gun, no solution again. After a few more incidents, that gun “went dak for a few months. It turned up in another part of town, same story. Over three years they traced that gun to above 150 crimes, but nevr could figure out who OWNED it as it moved about the city. finally the gun itself… Read more »
he best thing to happen would be for efery FFL in the Sate of New Jersey to bring in ONE example of the magickal gunm, as seems to be requried by this stupid law. Put it in a special display case on the wall, large letters proclaiming what it is and why. Put a very prominent price tag on i of $5000. See how many of these silly toys would actually be put into service by the general public.
The AG knows full well that the criminals do not register their guns.
The Jackasses of the DemoKKKratic National COMMUNIST Party are KICKING the BRIAR patch on the DUNG PILE again to see if the Anti-American IDIOTIC DUNG “law” will stick to the wall! These “laws” that WILL NOT WORK —- They and the Initiators MUST be WEEDED OUT before they make it into the PILE of “do SOMETHING”, which WILL NOT help ANY “REAL” LAW ENFORCEMENT. Maryland once had the “law” that a FIRED CASE had to be submitted to the State Police. Millions of TAX DOLLAR$$$$$ were spent on this LUDICRIS SCENARIO. Was there ANY CASE solved? NOPE! This “fired case… Read more »
The idiocy just never stops. The microstamp is generally no more than 0.005 inch tall, much thinner than a standard sheet of printing paper (avg. 0.039). There is no need to sand or file the part. The stamp could be defeated by simply applying a few coats of superglue, epoxy, varnish, etc. over the stamp. I’d bet even bees wax might work. After “use”, all evidence of the tampering could then be removed with an appropriate solvent, restoring the stamp to working order. Of course, the power mongers who write these laws couldn’t care less about that. The goal is… Read more »
My biggest concern with this is that my spent brass will need to be collected in its entirety at the range. If it is not collected, it is like leaving a credit card on the ground. My spent brass could be collected by an unsavory individual and left at the scene of a crime which could implicate me. This is a dangerous law.
The politicians know that none of this technology exists with manufacturers. This will mean a ban on all firearms and ammo in the state. This should apply to law enforcement and the National Guard as well. This is another roundabout way to ban guns. I wish SCOTUS could put into plain forward words that would stop all these many attempts at gun bans. There will be no end to the courts having to deal with these frivolous court cases. The only way this will end is when the people get some common sense and vote these communists out of office.… Read more »
It will ptobzably require 50 caliber because a .22 case is too small even for microstamping ( probably).
Police and FBI & military will have to spend billions or be exempt. If exempted their guns will become the weapons of choice.
how much do you want to bet an election is coming and funds are needed badly for a campaign? this is just plain stupid. not fancy or elaborate stupid, plain old dumb stupid. now anyone, including investigators, can drop a pocket of brass on a scene and implicate.
Smells like lies. If the AG is lying, he needs to be charged, tried, convicted and jailed.
Criminals, aka ***** people, will surely buy microstamped ammo, yup… this won’t just F law abiding people with higher costs and jain sentences for having the wrong ammo.