Sensible gun law will help us find criminals

Mayor Villaraigosa signs gun microstamp resolution
Originally uploaded by CD-13

In the past few weeks in the 13th Council District, we have seen gun violence destroy families and victimize neighborhoods. In the case of Anthony Escobar, the 13 year-old Echo Park boy who was shot and killed after picking lemons at a neighbor's home, police are still working to apprehend a suspect. This case, and every other crime involving a gun, demonstrates the need to give law enforcement every tool possible to track down suspects. That's why it is so important that Congressman Becerra's National Crime Gun Identification Act be passed into law.

Yesterday, the City Council unanimously passed and the mayor signed a resolution putting the City of Los Angeles officially on record in support of the Act. The bill, H.R. 5266, would require that all guns sold after January 1, 2010 be equipped with microstamp identifiers that would etch characters onto fired bullets. These etchings would allow crime investigators to identify the make, model, and serial number of the gun from which the bullet was fired.

The National Crime Gun Identification Act is strongly supported by law enforcement officials including Los Angeles Police Chief Bill Bratton and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca.