Last week, a landmark legislative proposal advanced in California. The State Assembly passed a bill requiring new semiautomatic handguns to imprint a code on expended shell casings. A step beyond what we see each week on “CSI,� this “ballistic fingerprinting� solidly ties bullets to guns, allowing police to determine with greater accuracy and speed which gun fired the bullets used in a crime.

If implemented, California would become the first state to require microstamping technology on new semiautomatic handguns. The Denver Post, in an editorial last week, explained why this long-term effort could have a dramatic impact on gun violence in California:

The bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, said 2,400 homicides are committed each year in California and about 60 percent involve the use of a handgun. About 45 percent of those homicides are never solved because of lack of clues, Feuer said. Because 70 percent of the new handguns sold in California are semi-automatic pistols, the new technology, over time, would be a significant tool for law enforcement in tracing guns used in crime back to their original buyers and in cracking down on “straw buyers” who purchase guns for criminals.

Most people agree that those who commit crimes with firearms should be caught and punished. California’s microstamping bill will assist police investigating gun crimes. That’s in everyone’s interest, and deserves all of our support.