Assemblyman Will Barclay (R,C,I,-Pulaski) said today 2nd Amendment Rights have been protected. During budget negotiations, language that would require gun manufacturers to micro-stamp firearms was removed from the budget bill and passed, without the regulation on gun manufacturers.

Micro-stamping places unnecessary and costly burdens on gun manufacturers and has not proven successful. The Assembly majority included this in a budget bill. Barclay criticized this decision in March, saying micro-stamping has no place in the 73-page budget bill that deals with state contacts and emergency preparedness. Late last week, the State Legislature passed the budget without the micro-stamping regulation included.

“I was pleased this language was removed from the budget bill. As I said before, this regulation is a stand-alone issue and has no place in the budget,” said Barclay.

Micro-stamping would require gun manufacturers to produce a unique alpha-numeric or geometric code on the firing pin identifying the make, model and serial number of the pistol. The technology, however, has not proven successful.

“Gun manufacturers have yet to devise technology that can ensure the information is coded into an expended cartridge. Further, it could force firearms manufacturers out of New York,” said Barclay. “In fact, last week, Remington Arms threatened to stop manufacturing in New York State if this measure passed. That is thousands of jobs we need to keep in New York. Micro-stamping is nothing but a costly hindrance to Upstate manufacturers and has proven to be ineffective.”

“I have voted against this measure in the past. If there is going to be anti-gun legislation, then it should crack down on possession of illegal firearms and crack down on the criminals who use them, not on the law-abiding citizens of New York and the gun manufacturers,” said Barclay.