http://ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=673330&page=3
About Us
Ammunition Accountability is a newly forming group of ammunition coding technology supporters. Our group includes gun crime victims, industry representatives, law enforcement, public officials, public policy experts, and more. We are working together to pass legislation to make ammunition coding technology a reality.
Ammunition coding technology works by laser etching the back of each bullet with an alpha-numeric serial number. Then when a potential criminal purchases a box of 9mm cartridges, the box of ammunition and the bullets’ coding numbers would be connected to the purchaser in a statewide database. When a bullet is found at a crime scene, the code on the bullet can be read with a simple magnifying glass and then be run through a statewide database to determine who purchased the ammunition and where, providing a valuable investigative lead.
There are many ways that you can help us solve gun crime around the nation. For more information about our organization or information about the technology contact us:
[email protected].
A little Googling around found this:
Similar bills have already been introduced in several other States, Tennessee & Mississippi being among them. These bills are being pushed through ten States by a lobby-group called "AmmunitionAccountability" for the benefit of manufacturer ACS, or "Ammunition Coding Systems". While certainly in bed with the many anti-gun advocates, the lobbyists & ACS stand to make millions of dollars if their bills pass.
Makes sense.
A look at Ammunition Coding System (ACS)
This pic is on their home page:
http://www.ammocoding.com/images/bullet1_home.jpg (left cold, of course)
Look similar to this?
http://ammunitionaccountability.org/Technology/Coded Bullet2.jpg (also cold - if someone wants to photobucket them & put em side by side for comparison...) from the Ammo Accountability outfit's "technology page"
http://ammunitionaccountability.org/Technology.htm
But let's go on with the ACS story:
Almost every day in every major US city you can open your local newspaper and read about the aftermath of gun violence. A child, a police officer, a mother or a father is cut down in the prime of life. An assassin murders a popular Seattle prosecutor. Two bloodthirsty snipers prey on innocent bystanders and terrorize our nation’s Capitol or a lone gunman takes potshots at passing motorists on a Columbus freeway. In most cases, the only evidence left behind is a body, a bullet, and possibly a shell casing or two.
They are pretty circumspect about just who is behind the curtain...
http://www.ammocoding.com/contact.html
And who's this lobbyist that ACS has retained?
http://www.gth-gov.com/clients.html
Governmental Affairs
Gordon Thomas Honeywell Government Affairs (GTH-GA) is a dynamic group of individuals offering comprehensive governmental affairs services to a diverse client base. With three offices (Washington, DC; Tacoma, Washington; Seattle, Washington), GTH-GA’s global team of experienced professionals is prepared for any challenge.
GTH-GA provides governmental affairs services at all levels of government – local, state, federal and foreign. In addition to providing services before a variety of different governments, GTH-GA has developed policy expertise on numerous subjects. Notable areas of expertise include Public Safety/Homeland Security, Technology, Biotechnology, Local Government, Utilities and Transportation.
The key to GTH-GA’s success is our commitment to understanding our clients’ business. Maintaining strong government contacts and political expertise are essential. However, it is only with a comprehensive understanding of a client’s business and markets that a consultancy can take full advantage of its experience and expertise to recommend positive government solutions. At GTH-GA we make each client’s business our business.
GTH-GA’s Governmental Affairs Services offers four distinct, yet interactive, business units: the Federal Governmental Affairs Group, the Multi-State Governmental Affairs Group, the International Public Affairs Group, and the Washington State Governmental Affairs Group.
...
The Multi-State Governmental Affairs Group specializes in providing governmental affairs and marketing services to businesses and organizations that are impacted by state government legislation, regulations or budgets. Whether designing government market strategy, monitoring legislation, securing intelligence, defeating legislation, implementing complex legislative objectives, providing access, or hiring/managing local lobbyists, GTH-GA has experience representing clients in nearly every state capital. GTH-GA’s clients have gained significant success from Multi-State Group services. In fact, GTH-GA has a national reputation for successfully implementing complex legislative projects to advance our clients’ goals.
Click here to see a list of GTH-GA’s Multi-State Public Affairs & Business Consulting Group Clients
http://www.gth-gov.com/about.html
Here's the guy that runs the "multi-state group" (of which ACS is listed as a client)
Tim Schellberg, President, Governmental Affairs Services
Tim Schellberg is the President of Gordon Thomas Honeywell's Governmental Affairs. Tim maintains an active governmental affairs practice, and manages the firm's four Governmental Affairs business groups: 1) Federal Governmental Affairs Group, 2) Multi-State Governmental Affairs Group, 3) International Public Affairs Group, and 4) Washington State Governmental Affairs Group.
Tim received his undergraduate degree from Washington State University in 1988 and his law degree from Seattle University in 1991. Upon Graduating from law school, Tim served as an attorney and legislative liaison to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. From 1994-2006, Tim was a partner at the law and governmental affairs firm Smith Alling Lane, P.S.
Throughout his career, Tim has successfully represented his clients in a majority of the state capitals. He is well known for his ability to organize and manage multi-state and multi-national governmental affairs programs to pass legislation and budgets that create significant markets for his clients. This multi-government experience and exposure has also created numerous opportunities for Tim and his clients to deliver presentations throughout the United States and abroad on the topics of national legislative and budget policy regarding his client’s interests.
Tim has also had extensive involvement representing his clients before Congress and many federal agencies. While working in Washington, DC, Tim has successfully secured numerous federal appropriations and has effectively lobbied for policy decisions for his clients.
Tim lives in Gig Harbor, Washington with his wife and two children.
Lotsa lobbyists.
http://www.gth-gov.com/staff.html
Offices in Tacoma, Seattle and of course DC
http://www.gth-gov.com/contact.html
Not surprisingly, they appear to be a subset of a big personal injury law firm
http://www.gth-law.com/
The lobby group's head:
http://www.gth-law.com/lawyer-attorney-1225477.html
more to follow...
Back to ACS - Googling their phone number and a couple of other things turned up what may be a predecessor company:
http://www.policeone.com/police-products/firearms/accessories/ammunition/press-releases/90639/
July 27, 2004
EmailPrintRegisterBookmarkWhat's This
Ammunition Coding System - A Revolutionary Way to Identify Bullets
Almost every day you can open your local newspaper and read a story about a shooting where no evidence is left, except the victim and a bullet. According to the Untied States Department of Justice, there is at least a 37% chance of never finding a killer in a crime involving a firearm. By making the bullet itself a more useable piece of evidence (without having to also find the gun) we can greatly increase the chance that law enforcement will solve more crimes.
Ravensforge has developed a patent pending technology: the Ammunition Coding System ("ACS"). ACS will assign a unique code to every bullet sold. By maintaining a record of purchases of ammunition, law enforcement personnel will be able to easily trace the ownership of any ammunition involved in a crime.
The ballistic fingerprinting system which is currently under consideration is an alternative plan to ACS. However, ballistic fingerprinting has many weaknesses. Most importantly, it won't deal with the millions of guns currently owned. It is estimated that at any given point in time there is only a four to five year supply of ammunition in the marketplace. Because of these ongoing sales, ACS will provide current and updated information on all ammunition users. This information won't be available if gun ownership is used as the primary source of identification.
In 1992, approximately 5.4 billion bullets were sold in the US alone. It is safe to assume that this number is trending upward. We estimate that 8-10 billion bullets were sold in the US in 2002. ACS has the capacity to accommodate this rate of sales for decades to come without duplicating the codes.
The design of our engraving system will allow law enforcement personnel to identify the code on a bullet, if even as little as 20% of the base remains intact. Since bullets are designed for the base to remain solid and in its original shape, the probability of our codes being legible after use is very high. Tests have shown a 99% success rate in determining the code after firing the coded ammunition.
We are soliciting ideas on how to implement ACS, as well as recommendations for improvements to its use or design. We will be happy to meet with you to further discuss and explain this unique and potentially valuable system to aid law enforcement professionals.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ammunition Coding System - Q & A's
What is being proposed?
The Ammunition Coding System ("ACS") creates a unique code that is engraved or similarly marked on every bullet sold. This engraving will be placed on both the projectile and the inside of the cartridge casing. Each code would be common to one box of bullets and unique from all other ammunition sold. This code would be tracked and a record maintained identifying who bought that particular box of bullets. This will allow law enforcement personnel to trace who purchased a bullet or bullets found at a crime scene.
A database management contractor will maintain a record of all ammunition sales. Each ammunition retailer will be required to report the ACS code and information identifying the purchaser to the database manager. This information will be available only to authorized law enforcement personnel.
This system won't necessarily prove who pulled the trigger, nor does ballistic fingerprinting, but it will provide law enforcement with a place to begin their investigation.
What will it cost?
The cost to implement this system is substantial, but results in a small cost per bullet for the end users. There are several significant manufacturers of ammunition. Each one would have to purchase at least one, if not more; laser engraving machines and material handlers. We have received estimates that each set of equipment would cost $300,000 to $500,000. A licensing fee will also be applied to each bullet sold. However, since there are approximately 10 billion bullets sold in the United States alone each year, the equipment costs, once amortized over the number of bullets sold, are insignificant. There will also be administrative costs for the retailers. All of these costs will most likely be passed onto the purchaser, making this a system paid for by user fees.
How big a burden will the ACS be on retailers?
The system of recording identification is easy in areas that have implemented bar coding of drivers licenses and other forms of identification. Manufacturers will include the code in the bar coding on each box of bullets, so retailers will be able to scan the box of bullets and the purchasers drivers license and have the required information without any significant expense of time.
Why is the ACS better than ballistic fingerprinting?
Coding System-
Doesn't require any special training or equipment for law enforcement to use (other than a good magnifying glass).
Determination of the code on the bullet doesn't require any special skills and is not subjective.
Major manufacturers already use bar coding for inventory control and management. The code assigned to each box would be an easy addition to this system.
The system makes it difficult for someone without special tools and training to circumvent.
Information derived from the ACS will be contemporary, since it is estimated that there is no more than a 4-5 year supply of ammunition in circulation at any one time.
By using the ACS system when engraving the bullet; the code is identifiable if as little as 20% of the base of the bullet is still intact.
Ballistic Fingerprinting-
The system currently being proposed will be expensive to create and maintain.
The unique characteristics of the fingerprinting system are easy to alter.
Regular use of a firearm will change the unique characteristics of a firearm.
Judging the comparison of a bullet to the signature of a firearm requires a subjective determination which is prone to human error.
Ballistic fingerprinting takes considerable time and is expensive to perform.
Information isn't available on the millions of firearms already in existence. Information on new firearms will be outdated long before the firearm is no longer in use.
How could the system be circumvented?
The ACS can be circumvented by any of the following methods:
Someone could cast their own bullets and load them themselves.
A person could buy a coded bullet, disassemble it, file the number off, and reassemble the cartridge/bullet combination.
Someone could buy a lifetime supply of ammunition before the ACS goes into effect.
However, we would argue that the person who is going to hold up the corner convenience store is unlikely to do any of these things. Since the vast majority of gun crimes are crimes of passion, few people will ever consider a premeditated attempt to circumvent the proposed system.
Does the ACS violate our Second Amendment rights?
No. However, every effort should be used to be sensitive to the objections of gun rights advocates. The information that retailers obtain about the bullet purchaser should not be available to anyone but law enforcement.
How does the system get implemented?
As with most gun related laws, each state or country will need to legislate the requirement that the ACS be used. Our system of coding will allow an almost infinite number of codes and is easily understood. By requiring the use of our Coding System, each area will assure that there are no conflicts between manufacturers. A common system of coding will prevent duplication between areas, and avoid making the manufacturers implement several different coding systems.
How many unique codes are available?
There are 90 unique characters on a standard keyboard. We propose to use these characters in six columns in conjunction with three characters that will identify the beginning and end of the code sequence. This results in 1.6 trillion codes. Typically, bullets come in boxes of either 20 or 50 and different calibers of bullets can be assigned the same code, so the total number of bullets that can be coded before duplicating a code is as much as 637 trillion bullets.
We could also use five characters for some bullets increasing the number of bullets before duplication to 744 trillion.
Finally, if we use most of the 256 characters available in the standard character set, the number of codes becomes almost infinite.
If you have any questions, concerns, or input, please contact Ammunition Coding System at:
10002 Aurora Avenue North #4432
Seattle, WA 98133
phone: 888.743.3490
fax: 425.743.1452
Email:
[email protected]
That address look familiar? It should, it's the same as ACS' current street addy:
Mail Address:
10002 Aurora Avenue North
#4432
Seattle, WA 98133
Telephone:
Office: 425.742.2454
FAX: 425.743.1452
Email:
Click here
http://www.ammocoding.com/contact.html
So who the Sam Hill is "Ravensforge"?
These guys?
http://www.ravensforge.com/about.htm
Apparantly so.
Check this out:
We also believe there needs to be further
independent, objective study of the technology and
its feasibility. As you may know, the National
Academy of Sciences is currently conducting a
feasibility study of "ballistics imaging." SAAMI
supported federal legislation introduced in the 107th
Congress calling for such a study, and we support
NAS's study. To our knowledge, the very limited
testing of this technology has been done primarily by
the company, Ravensforge (
www.ravensforge.com ), which
has a vested financial interest in the outcome of any
testing. In conducting what limited testing it did,
Ravensforge did not consult with any ammunition
manufacturer as to the feasibility, or lack thereof,
of incorporating its technology into the production
process and the impact it would have on the
manufacturer. The issue of whether the Legislature
would be creating a monopoly for Ravensforge must
also be considered. This appears to be a "sole
source" technology.
info.sen.ca.gov/pub/05-06/bill/sen/sb_0351-0400/sb_357_cfa_20050425_143651_sen_comm.html
And Googling the two together confirms.
www.nssf.org/share/PDF/SAAMI_Ltr_VT.pdf
<SNIP>
To Members of the Vermont Legislature:
You may have already received a letter from Sgt. James P. Fuda (ret.) expressing support for
bullet serialization – the process by which each individual round of ammunition is identified and
marked with a laser engraved serial number. Mr. Fuda is part of a larger disinformation
campaign that the Ravensforge Company (a group whose primary product is skateboarding
equipment) has engaged in, with hopes of lobbying lawmakers by misrepresenting the
capabilities of bullet serialization. This follows Ravenforge’s involvement and financial ties to
an ammunition coding system database.
The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI) is the nonprofit
trade
association for the nation’s leading manufacturers of sporting firearms and ammunition. SAAMI
certainly understands that in theory it is possible to laser engrave a serial number on metal. No
one is arguing this. The problem is that serializing ammunition on a mass production basis is not
feasible from a practical standpoint and any legislation mandating such action could rightfully be
considered a de facto ban on ammunition.
If manufacturers had to comply with bullet serialization, SAAMI estimates that it would take
almost three weeks to manufacture what is currently made in a single day. This massive
reduction in ammunition would translate into substantially lower sales and profitability and
ultimately force major ammunition manufacturers to abandon the market. In turn, there would
be a severe shortage of serialized ammunition and all consumers, including federal, state and
local law enforcement agencies, would be faced with substantial price increases. Ammunition
will go from costing pennies to several dollars per cartridge. The result, already overstretched
law enforcement budgets will be stretched even thinner.
The domestic small arms ammunition industry, utilizing modern manufacturing processes and
distribution practices, produces at least 8 billion ammunition cartridges a year at already lowprofit
margins.
<SNIP>
So who is Ravensforge? Stay tuned...
Understand how laws work.
That which is non-compliant will be banned if not specifically exempted.
Gotta love Google & open source information...
The Ravensforge story
Friday, November 15, 2002
Former real estate executives turned Ravensforge's SkateBlock studs from a sideline into a businessPuget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - by Joel Ozretich Staff Writer
Print Article Email Article Reprints RSS Feeds Add to Del.icio.us Digg This
Skateboarders and in-line skaters send hate mail to Ravensforge, denouncing the company's products.
But SkateBlocks — short metal studs affixed to benches, planters and railings to prevent skateboarders, BMX bicyclists or in-line skaters from damaging property — have turned into a $1 million-a-year business for the two-man, Seattle-based firm.
Ravensforge was founded four years ago by three former property and construction managers at Seattle-based Martin Smith Inc. Steven Mace, Russ Ford and John Knickerbocker had seen how repainting and repairing railings or planters damaged by skateboards and in-line skates could require repairs that often ran into thousands of dollars a year.
After leaving Martin Smith in 1998 to form their own real estate company, Real Estate Management Group, they started Ravensforge as kind of a side business. That year the company sold only 368 of the 2-to-3-inch SkateBlocks, grossing about $8,000.
"Back then, if you had said, 'Why don't you sell these things to stop skateboarders?' I would have said, 'It sounds like a good hobby, but it's certainly not a business,' " Mace said.
Since then, Ravensforge has become a full-time business for Mace and Ford, and property management has become the secondary business. Knickerbocker returned to Martin Smith after less than a year away, but still occasionally helps his former partners with new designs.
Jefferson Square shopping center in West Seattle was the first place SkateBlocks were installed, said Mace. Since then, the metal studs have been attached at many more prominent Seattle locations, including Westlake Center, the University of Washington, Benaroya Hall, Seattle University, the Grand Hyatt Seattle hotel and University Village.
In all, about 92,000 SkateBlocks have been sold across the country and as far away as Australia. Most customers are municipalities, universities and other large property owners. New York City's Battery Park got more than 400 SkateBlocks when the park reopened last spring, after being damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Early on, employees at the 1-year-old Grand Hyatt Seattle hotel, on the corner of Pike Street and Seventh Avenue, noticed damage to the tiles around the base of the bronze sculpture at the hotel's entrance.
"It wasn't bad yet, but it was about to be," said Jen Bixby, former assistant to the hotel's director of engineering.
Bixby had seen the metal studs installed on other nearby properties, but was surprised to find out that a local company made them. She contacted Ravensforge and had SkateBlocks installed to prevent further damage.
"Inevitably, we would have had to replace the tiles," said Doug Sears, general manager of the Grand Hyatt Seattle. "We got the protectors on there soon enough that we really didn't have to replace anything."
What else do we know about Steven Mace & Russ Ford? Are they the driving force behind this endeavour? Maybe some of the WA crew can fill in some blanks...
