What is microstamping technology?

What is microstamping technology?

Paul Helmke (President, The Brady Campaign) gives expert video advice on: Do guns increase violent crime?; Is it safer to use a gun in an attack?; Why is there opposition to gun locks? and more...

One of the new exciting technologies that could affect guns is something called microstamping. It's a ballistics identification device. And basically it uses a laser to leave an imprint on the firing pin of a weapon. It also uses a layer, a laser to make some imprints on the barrel of a weapon, and for any gun that discharges a cartridge it would leave that imprint on the cartridge itself. And it's something that for a new gun with the laser microstamping, you could look at the cartridge at a crime scene and see the identification number that would tell you in effect what gun dealer last sold that weapon, and from the gun dealer you can find out who last bought the weapon. It's something that if it had been available in the Virginia Tech situation and Virginia would have had these records, they might have found out after the first two murders quickly who the individual was and not gone off on the false lead that they had in the Virginia Tech case.