For those not up on the subject, microstamping is a way to have every handgun leave a unique marker on every shell casing when it fires. Police use that marking to identify the gun it came from.

The controversy comes because some believe that this will infringe upon a right that they take seriously, the right to bear arms. Opponents, who are celebrating the decision to remove the bill from consideration in the Senate earlier this week, believe that requiring every handgun sold after Jan. 1, 2012, to microstamp casings would be costly and ineffective. They argue that criminals would disable the mechanism, would use older guns to avoid any chance that casings would be marked or would use stolen guns that would not be traced back to them. Far better, opponents argue, to pass and enforce laws that support the important work police do in solving crimes.

The first problem with that comes from the police themselves. They welcome support for all laws that help them prevent and solve crimes. That's why more than 100 police chiefs throughout the state have joined the group asking the state Senate to pass legislation requiring microstamping, a bill already approved in the Assembly. The list includes chiefs from large departments in Albany, Buffalo, Rochester and Yonkers as well as some local departments including chiefs in Tuxedo, Ellenville and Middletown. Mayors, too, are on board supporting the legislation. Michael Bloomberg is there, which is no surprise. Joining him are mayors of villages and cities throughout the state, including those in Beacon, Ellenville, Greenwood Lake, Kingston, Maybrook, Newburgh and Otisville.

Those police chiefs and the mayors who employ them are convinced that microstamping will give them an important tool in the fight against crime. They have several reasons to believe that.

First, they do not share the high opinion that opponents have about criminals. Criminals use cars to commit many crimes and rarely do they successfully swap the license plates or obscure the vehicle identification numbers that could be used to track them down. Those who commit crimes often are not very thoughtful, and many crimes are committed by people who are not career criminals but who are acting on impulse and not likely to care much about the details.

Police know that microstamping will save them a lot of time and help them to quickly and precisely identify the guns used in many crimes.

Cost is not a factor, with the estimate being that microstamping will raise the price of a handgun by $12. Guns will still operate the way they do now, using the same ammunition with no adaptations or expense required.

Opponents do not like people telling them what they can and can't do with their guns. That is understandable. But police are asking for help on this one, saying that microstamping will not have any effect on law-abiding gun owners but will make a big difference to the people whose job it is to solve crimes. Senators should listen to the police on this one, bring the bill back for a vote and pass it.