California Governor Schwarzenegger has signed off on bill AB 1471, which requires all new handguns manufactured for sale in his state to be “microstamped.” This involves an expensive, untested and unverified technology (corporate boilerplate doesn’t count as verification) designed to imprint the serial number of the weapon on the spent casings it fires.
Of course, it’s a proprietary technology, so we mere citizens don’t get to know the details, but it apparently uses engraving on the breech face and firing-pin to “stamp” the fired casing, thereby making it easier to trace guns used in crimes. The bill also requires all ammunition to be serialized.