California Legislature Creates Important New Marketing Opportunities in Black Market Ammunition.
In the kind of irony only reality can generate, Arnold Swcharzenegger, muscle bound hero who blasted a million rounds of ammo on film, signed a bill making it more difficult to buy ammunition. Beginning in 2011, ammunition sellers in California will be required to get a signature, a thumbprint, and a photo ID, and they’ll have to keep records, which will be open to cops any time they want to see them. 
Even the venerable .22 is included.Backup photo
The bill supposes to cover only ammunition used in "handguns" but virtually every cartridge is chambered in a handgun save for some very large cases. Even the .223 is available in a handgun. Under the strictest interpretation nearly every cartridge would require the thumb print, and under any interpretation the humble .22 rimfire would be included.
That’s because guns are scary, and people who use and shoot guns are scary. Since the anti-Second Amendment people haven’t been as successful as they’d like at taking guns away (though they’ve done better than they should have) they are now trying to take ammunition away.
Most guns and most ammunition are used by law abiding citizens who enjoy the right to keep and bear arms. That’s who this bill will effect most. Candid Photos In a blow to a free press and voyeurs everywhere, the Governator signed a bill preventing photographers from taking unauthorized pictures of celebrities or their families during unguarded and intimate moments. County supervisors can return to having sex in the backyard without fear of overexposure. 
Scary bullets Backup photo
The new law will have some pretty stupefying unintended consequences, but the biggest is that it will create a great new black market for ammunition.
Scary bullets Backup photo
The new paperwork requirements mean fewer stores will bother. Fewer stores means higher prices. The new requirement means a lot of gray area ex felons won’t be able to buy legal ammo. Between these two effects, the ammo black market will thrive.
Scary, and really filthy dirty, gun. Backup photo
Congratulations to our legislators for stripping our rights with no real benefit, and for creating a whole new opportunity for criminal activity.
