California's first microstamping law was signed way back in 2007, requiring all semi-automatic handguns in the state to imprint serial numbers onto two distinct locations on spent cartridge casings. Despite objections from gun makers that this was a practical impossibility and that a microstamped firing pin could be easily modified or destroyed, the state moved forward with enforcing the law, which led to an effective freeze on new semi-automatic handguns being certified for sale in the Golden State.
Democrat lawmakers relented in 2023, modifying the law to require microstamping on just one location on shell casings and imposing new deadlines on the implementation of the law. Under SB 452, the California Attorney General had until July 1, 2025 to determine whether microstamping was feasible. Rob Bonta checked that box last year, which set up another deadline that was reached on July 1, 2026.
(d) If the department has determined that microstamping components are technologically viable pursuant to subdivision (a), the department shall, on or before July 1, 2026, provide grants or enter into contracts with one or more entities licensed pursuant to subdivision (c) to…
— Matt Cubeiro (@MatthewCubeiro) August 4, 2026
Second Amendment attorney Matt Cubeiro of Michel and Associates raises an excellent question. Bonta regularly blasts out press releases trumpeting his gun control efforts, so if CalDOJ has entered into any contracts or provided grants to companies that are producing these microstamping products, he presumably would have let us know about it.
As of right now, California's microstamping mandate is supposed to take effect on January 1, 2028, but that is contingent on a couple of deadlines. One is the deadline reached last month that Cubeiro referenced above. The second comes next July 1.
By July 1, 2027, DOJ must determine: (1) whether microstamping components are available at commercially reasonable prices from licensees producing microstamping components, and (2) whether “options of microstamping-enabled firearms are readily available for purchase” in California. (Pen. Code § 27532(e).) Once DOJ determines that either or both of these criteria are met, DOJ must publish a list of all licensees producing microstamping components that meet the microstamping performance standards and “shall notify licensed firearms dealers, gunsmiths, and manufacturers operating within the State of California of the list of available microstamping component producers.”
So what happens if it turns out that CalDOJ did not meet its deadline to provide grants or enter into contracts with entities to make these microstamping components? Does that negate the entire law?
Probably not. Though the statute says the AG's office shall provide grants or enter into contracts, there's no punishment or penalty for failing to do so, nor does the statute specifically indicate that the 2028 start date would even be delayed.
However, if there are no companies working with CalDOJ to make these microstamped components, it's going to be difficult for the agency to conclude next July that these components are available at commercially reasonable prices or even readily available for purchase, and that would delay the effective date of the microstamping mandate.
The microstamping law, along with the other "safety" features required by the state of California before new models of semi-automatic handguns can be sold by FFLs, is also being challenged in court. A three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments in Boland and Renna in August 2023, and we're still waiting for that opinion to be released.
Nearly 20 years after it was first passed, California's microstamping law is no closer to becoming a reality than it was back then. It will still take a court decision to kill the mandate completely, though. Even if microstamping components are not readily available by next July, the Democrats in control of the statehouse will just push the deadline back a few more years rather than repeal the statute completely.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
Help us continue to report on and expose the Democrats’ gun control policies and schemes. Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member