Fairfax, VA -(Ammoland.com)- On May 12, 2015, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) introduced H.R. 2283 or the Stop Online Ammunition Sales Act of 2015.
According to a report from The Hill (full text of the legislation has not been received by the Government Publishing Office at press time) the bill would require that ammunition sellers be federally licensed, that online ammunition purchasers show a photo identification in-person at an “authorized dealer” in order to take receipt of their orders, and that any purchases of more than 1000 rounds made within five consecutive days be reported to the Attorney General.
This retrograde plan ignores the federal government’s past experience with regulating ammunition sales. The Gun Control Act of 1968 imposed similar regulations on ammunition sellers and purchasers. Ammunition buyers were required to sign, and ammunition sellers required to maintain, a ledger of pistol-caliber ammunition purchases. In 1982, Congress exempted .22 rimfire ammunition from this burdensome regime, and with 1986’s Firearms Owners Protection Act the requirement was fully repealed.
In 1986, even the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms admitted the failure of federal ammunition regulation. In a February 10, 1986 BATF memo that made it into the House of Representatives hearings report on the Firearm Owners Protection Act, BATF Director Steve Higgins lists the elimination of “Ammunition Licensing and Recordkeeping” as one of the “Positive Aspects” of the bill.
The memo states, “The Bureau and the Department have recognized that current recordkeeping requirements for ammunition have no substantial law enforcement value. In addition, their elimination would remove an unnecessary recordkeeping burden from licensees.”
According to The Hill, Coleman’s communication director, Courtney Cochran, explained the reasoning behind the legislation as attempting to detect “[i]f someone is trying to stockpile ammunition for a malicious reason.” The more likely outcome, however, is that criminals would simply work around this inconvenient hurdle (through straw purchase and the like) to operate undetected. Meanwhile, legitimate high-volume shooters who economize by purchasing large quantities of ammunition at a single time would be effectively registered with the federal government as owing firearms of that caliber.
NRA-ILA will work to halt this regressive legislation, and provide our members with more information on the bill as it becomes available.
About the NRA-ILA
Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
For more information, please visit: www.nra.org. Be sure to follow the NRA on Facebook at NRA on Facebook and Twitter @NRA.
Who needs ISIL? We’ve got the NRA. Weapons of mass destruction on every street corner, or sit home and buy your fix over the internet. Mass Shootings / Domestic Terrorist are daily occurrences. Self-Destructive behavior is promoted, empathy is discouraged. And you too can win a BR4 Trident Rifle online! Only in the U.S.A.
I’m at the point where I’m starting to say, “Stop the world, please. I want to get off.” The political games and governmental power grabs taking place lately are driving me up the wall. I’m clawing my face off. Yeah, I can give my elected representatives a phone call, but they don’t care. They really don’t. Not where I am. The people around me are sleep walking through their lives. They don’t care because “it doesn’t really affect me.” I feel like I am utterly alone in a sea of stupidity and apathy, and there’s no lighthouse in sight. Not… Read more »
That would be The Peoples Republic of New Jersey. Where only the bad guys and the cops have guns, and, the two are synonymous.
More stupidity. Didn’t have to read far once I saw the state and the ‘D’ after the name.
Yep we could guess, the state was New “Jerksy”, hope you New Jerksy voters are paying attention to this bimbo!!
Cabela’s has a good sale going on Herter’s Ammunition, includes a free ammo storage can with each purchase! Just bought some .38 Special!