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ATF Shelves Ban on M855/SS109 Ammo


guruofhotrod

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Not only is 62gr gone around here, ALL .223 Rem/5.56 NATO ammo is cleaned off the shelves.  Sickening.

 

I wonder if this had anything to do with the BATFE's reversal, or dropping of it:

 

March 9, 2015

The Honorable B. Todd Jones

Director

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives

99 New York Avenue, N.E.

Washington, DC 20226

Dear Director Jones:

We take issue with the "ATF Framework for Determining Whether Certain Projectiles are 'Primarily Intended for Sporting Purposes' Within the Meaning of 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(17)©," to which ATF sought comment on February 13, 2015.

Congress in 1986 passed the Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act (LEOPA). It did so to protect law enforcement officers from a particular category of bullets – those that could be fired from handguns and pierce police officers' body armor. Because rifle ammunition could also pass through police body armor, and some rifle ammunition could be fired from handguns, LEOPA protected common rifle ammunition by exempting from its scope projectiles "which the Attorney General finds [are] primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes."

The "Framework" does not follow LEOPA. Without any support, it purports to create an "objective" test never before applied for delineating which projectiles are "primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes." ATF will exempt a ".22 caliber projectile … if the projectile weighs 40 grains or less AND is loaded into a rimfire cartridge," and will exempt other forms of ammunition if they are "loaded into a cartridge for which the only handgun that is readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade is a single shot handgun." But even if a particular projectile satisfies these novel tests, ATF proposes to "retain[] the discretion to deny any application for a 'sporting purposes' exemption if substantial evidence exists that the ammunition is not primarily intended for such purposes."

ATF would determine what amounts to "substantial evidence" and whether the "ammunition is not primarily intended for [sporting] purposes." The statute was not enacted to give authority to ATF to do either. In 1986, the sponsors of the legislation were emphatic in stating that ammunition commonly used in rifles for TARGET practice or hunting was not of the type of ammunition that the bill would ban. ATF seems to have decided to ban ammunition types that the law did not ban, then developed from whole cloth an "objective" test to supposedly provide it with the ability to ban the ammunition types it already had selected for prohibition.

Earlier, ATF recognized the proper scope of LEOPA. ATF has always granted an exemption to the M855 5.56 x 45mm cartridge from the LEOPA ban because it recognized that this ammunition fell squarely within the "sporting purposes" test. It did so because factually, as well as legally under the legislative language, such cartridges were and are widely used by millions of law-abiding gun owners for "sporting purposes." These cartridges are prevalent for one of the most commonly possessed rifles, the AR-15. Congress did not, and did not intend to, ban this form of ammunition.

ATF's proposed restriction of the M855 cartridge is particularly serious in light of efforts to ban other forms of ammunition. The standards in the "Framework" would make use of ammunition containing materials other than lead more difficult. At the same time, various efforts to ban lead ammunition are proceeding apace. Second Amendment rights require not only access to firearms but to bullets. If law-abiding gun owners cannot obtain rifle ammunition, or face substantial difficulty in finding ammunition available and at reasonable prices because government entities are banning such ammunition, then the Second Amendment is at risk. An outright ban is an even more serious threat to the Second Amendment than the threat to the First Amendment's protection of free press created by a TAX imposed only on voluminous purchases of paper and ink. See Minneapolis Star Tribune Co. v. Commissioner, 460 U.S. 575 (1983).

It is not clear where ATF believes it has obtained the authority to issue general standards interpreting the meaning of "sporting purposes" under LEOPA as opposed to exempting or not exempting particular cartridges. Nevertheless, no federal statute, including LEOPA, interferes with the ability of law-abiding citizens to obtain ammunition commonly used for such legitimate purposes as TARGET shooting, hunting, and shooting competitions. Nor could any such statute do so consistent with the Second Amendment. The "Framework" should not be adopted, and ATF should not propose in the future to ban any widely used form of ammunition used by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes.

Sincerely,

Senators joining Grassley on the letter include Mike Rounds (R-S.D.); John Thune (R-S.D.); Cory Gardner (R-Colo.); Tom Cotton (R-Ark.); John Hoeven (R-N.D.); Joni Ernst (R-Iowa); David Vitter (R-La); Michael Crapo (R-Idaho); Jerry Moran (R-Kan.); David Perdue (R-Ga.); James Risch (R-Idaho); John Isakson (R-Ga.); Steve Daines (R-Mont.); Dean Heller (R-Nev.); Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.); Richard Burr (R-N.C.); Roy Blunt (R-Mo.); Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.); Bill Cassidy (R-La.); John Boozman (R-Ark.); Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.); Ted Cruz (R-Texas); Thom Tillis (R-N.C.); Orrin Hatch (R-Utah); Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.); James Lankford (R-Okla.); Richard Shelby (R-Ala.); Deb Fischer (R-Neb.); Thad Cochran (R-Miss.); Shelley Capito (R-W. Va.); Pat Roberts (R-Kan.); Pat Toomey (R-Pa.); Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska); John Cornyn (R-Texas); Ron Johnson (R-Wis.); Michael Lee (R-Utah); John Barrasso (R-Wyo.); Marco Rubio (R- Fla.); Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.); Dan Coats (R-Ind.); Bob Corker (R-Tenn.); Tim Scott (R-S.C.); Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.); Ben Sasse (R-Neb.); Roger Wicker (R-Miss.); Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.); Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.); Rand Paul (R-Ky.); John McCain (R-Ariz.); Rob Portman (R-Ohio); Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska); and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

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Tom,

 

I've been finding .223 in Benson and Sierra Vista sans the price gouging.  You know you've been looking for a reason to come down and say Hi.  

 

Pig is in the ground and the beer is on ice buddy!  We'll get the guns out and the quads warmed up and hit the wash! ;)

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  Look at the Federal Lake City M855  green tip at the bottom of the page $ 0.84 a round . <dontknow>

Yeah, I know...  Its Rediculious!  Hope to see this trend reversed.  

 

I can't stand price gougers....  :bat:

Edited by AdamO
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SS109 will be just like .22LR now - scarce.  It's hit the "famous" status, since The King wants it gone.  You'll get lucky to find it, it'll get swept off the shelves fast, and the gougers will always be offering it at jacked up prices.  That sucks.

 

I'm glad I reload.

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No one was fighting the ATF.  The ATF, ultimately, answers to Obama.  Obama has a pen and phone.  I would like to see them shoved up his ass, but I really want to wait a while and see if this dies down completely, or if Barry has other plans.  I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, and I sincerely hope that I'm wrong, but I wouldn't doubt that skinny little bastard orders the ATF to continue the ban process.

 

There's an interesting possible back story to this.  After Obama, Holder, Sharpton and a host of Hollywood dumbasses and liberal billionaires and dumbasses in general running around with their hands in the air, threw cops all over the country, under the bus, with their race baiting and other liberal tactics, it's strange that cops, especially appointed cops like Chiefs, etc... came to the fight to back pro 2A folks, stating almost unanimously that they didn't have a problem with "green tip" ammo, it shot down the whole premise that this was necessary to protect cops. It made both the ATF and the Obama regime look like foolish assholes.

 

Maybe in LEO circles, they're getting a little payback, and showing current politicians, and potential new ones, just how much clout they really have.  I hope this whole conversation goes away in the media and within the regimes monkey see, monkey do functionaries.

 

But given their record, I'm not yet ready to start throwing confetti up in the air quite yet.

Edited by Fort Tom
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Has there been any discussion in the direction of not doing business with those that use these opportunities to gouge us at the register? I personally have stopped buying from quite a few online and local shops that seemed all to happy to "raise the rent".

Edited by LeatherNuts
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To add to this... one more reason I'm glad I migrated to the 308AR platform.

While all this scare buying and price jacking was going on, I was able to go to my local Walmart and find ZQI 7.62x51 at will for 9.98/20. Cheaper to shoot that then 62gr.!!!

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My local dealer was selling Wolf Gold for six bucks a box. Small shop attached to his house.  I have a couple of cans of M855, and it shoots like crap out of my guns, and dirtier also, as compared to the Wolf Gold, which isn't bad stuff for plinking ammo.  I just bought a case from him (the Wolf) and a friend asked if I could get some more.  Local guy starts stammering about how "green tip" will jack prices up, yammer yammer, now "local guy" wants in on the gouge .  Wants to jack up his Wolf because of M855.  Guess what.  Local guy who's always talking about having to take on 3 jobs to make ends meet, can count me out as a source of income.  Sad thing was, during last ObamaScare, he stood fast.  Guess greed is a pretty potent drug.

Edited by Fort Tom
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