NEWTOWN, Conn –-(Ammoland.com)- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has announced it is seeking to ban commonplace 5.56 M855 ball ammunition as “armor piercing ammunition.”
ATF is seeking public comment on the proposal, so all industry employees, target shooters and gun owners should contact ATF to oppose this unnecessary ban, which is truly a solution in search of a problem and that raises serious questions about executive agency attitude and overreach.
Stopped cold on Capitol Hill, this action appears to be the Obama administration’s attempt to pursue gun control by other means.
Commonly available steel-core, “green tip” M855 and SS109 rifle ammunition that is primarily intended and regularly used for “sporting purposes,” like target shooting, has been exempt from federal law banning armor piercing ammunition for decades. There is no question that the 5.56 ball ammo has been in wide use by law abiding American citizens for sporting purposes.
It is with the increasing prevalence of handgun versions of rifle platforms, that ATF now apparently sees an opening to now ban the widely used M855 and SS109 ammunition.
It would be legally permissible to continue to possess and use so-defined “armor piercing” ammunition currently possessed. However, rescinding the decades-old exemption will have a major impact. It will become illegal to manufacture, import, distribute or sell at retail this very popular rifle target ammunition.
ATF’s proposed “framework” for applying the “sporting purpose” exemption test rewrites the law passed by Congress to disregard the manufacturer’s intention that a projectile or cartridge is “primarily intended for a supporting purpose.”
ATF inappropriately places the focus on how criminals might misuse sporting ammunition in a handgun.
Just as disturbing, language used by ATF in its long white paper refers to criminals as a “consumer group.” The implication that the industry purposely sells firearms and ammunition to criminals is misleading and echoes the shopworn charges of the gun control lobby.
Manufacturers will face serious limitations in their ability to develop and market alternative ammunition in other popular hunting rounds, such as .308 rifle hunting ammunition, if ATF’s so-called “framework“ is adopted. This will have a detrimental effect on hunting nationwide, especially in California where a total ban on traditional ammunition for hunting is being phased in now.
ATF is soliciting comments on how it can best implement withdrawal of this exemption while “minimizing disruption to the ammunition and firearm industry and maximizing officer safety”. Under the proposed framework, 30-06 M2AP cartridges would continue to be exempt because there are no multi-shot handguns generally available that accept such ammunition.
The proposal is useless since standard lead-only 5.56 ammunition is “armor piercing” simply due to the round’s velocity. Rifles in this caliber, or any caliber for that matter, are rarely used in crimes.
ATF will accept comments on this proposal until March 16, 2015. Email or write ATF today and tell them you oppose this unnecessary, misguided and damaging ban on commonly used ammunition for America’s most popular sporting rifles.
- Email: [email protected]
- Fax: (202) 648-9741.
Mail: Denise Brown, Mailstop 6N-602, Office of Regulatory Affairs, Enforcement Programs and Services, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, 99 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20226: ATTN: AP Ammo Comments.
About NSSF The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearms industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of more than 6,000 manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers. For more information, log on to www.nssf.org.
If we give up the very tools to ensure liberty we are truly ruined. This is the very ammo needed to defend against a tyrannical govt like the one we have now. If you give up one thing they will take another. The term ” Cop killer bullets ” is bullshit. All centerfire rifle rounds will blow through a level IIIA armor vest ,and guess what? They will kill anyone not just the cops! They are hoping this will fall on ignorant ears. The 2nd amendment has nothing to do with hunting or sporting purpose but everything to do with… Read more »
They took my native American forefathers rights and the lying white eyes will take yours also. Time is on their side for now, but it does not need be. Prepare your self now, the new privatized socialism is coming.
As a former NRA, member, I completely support this proposed ban. Perhaps, some day, if they ever get rid of that s__t for brains Lapierre and recover their senses, I might rejoin. I laugh at all you rubes that fall for this sky is falling crap. BTW, be sure and run out today and buy until the shelves are bare! Take your kids lunch money and buy more bullets!
I just heard it on the news..so it is true whats next?…the gov is getting scared of the people i think and before overruning us they will need to cut down on our ability to aquire this type of ammo
its bothersome….the r waisting there time….we have so much ammo,,,,they don’t have a clue. but I want more. if this country needs defended, we can do it too !!!!!!!!!!!
OldgarandGuy
I disagree obama and the anti gun – anti Second Amendment Rights groups are look for anyway to deny our rights.
If we let them ban this ammo which ammo will they go after next and for what reason.
Same thing with our Bill of Right if they take away the Second which one will be next the First, the Fourth, then may all of them. Hitler took away Jews guns then killed over 6 million
Could this be another “Anti” freedom attempt to create a “solution” to a non existing “problem”?
The ATF is simply following the law signed by Reagan in 1986. The remedy is to use a different bullet when manufacturing the cartridges. A no-brainer. I shoot the AR-15 and there’s all kinds of ammo available. I’ve been hearing these gun grab stories since Nixon threatened to ban hand guns. It’s just a way to get everyone keyed up so they’ll send more money to their gun association. No one is coming to take our guns or ammo.
I thought we are now under Republican control and all these bull crap laws won’t be allowed.They also said the first thing they would do was overturn Obummer care. So far the only thing that they have done is agree with Obummer and the Dumb-o-crats.
As with all “sensible gun control laws”, it’s just one more step in the eventual ban on private ownership of firearms. If we ban one kind of weapon because it’s too big and another because it’s too small and another because it holds too many rounds and yet another because it chambers a round that’s been banned, eventually we get to the point where only single shot .22 rifles are premitted. What exactly is “the sporting purposes test” in deciding which arms and ammo are allowed? The second amendment is not to protect your right to shoot pop bottles off… Read more »