On September 30, the U.S. Supreme Court opened a new chapter in Second Amendment legal history by announcing it would decide whether the Second Amendment applies to the states. The case, McDonald v. City of Chicago, is one of several that were filed immediately after last year's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, in which the Court struck down Washington, D.C.’s ban on handgun possession, as well as the capital city's ban on keeping loaded, oper­able firearms for self-defense in the home.

You may have read somewhere that there is some sort of restriction on handguns in California starting in 2010 that requires them to be microstamped. I hope this to be the first in a series of columns here in The Firing Line that will help dispel confusion about the politics, judicial and legal environment for gun owners in California. In today's episode, let's explore microstamping.