CCRKBA Chief Alan Gottlieb
By Dave Workman
Senior Editor
The nation’s leading Second Amendment organizations have declared war on a proposal by the Obama administration’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to ban what many consider to be the most popular ammunition for the AR-15 rifle, dubbed the M855, alleging that it is an armor piercing round that can be fired from a handgun.
The Feb. 13 announcement was a reversal of long-standing policy that exempted the M855 ball ammunition. Critics are now alleging that the BATF is violating the Administrative Procedures Act, and that includes members of Congress, who sent a letter to BATF Director B. Todd Jones bashing the proposal.
Likewise, Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, has also sent a letter to Jones, telling him bluntly that letter that he could find no evidence that any police officer has ever been shot with a handgun loaded with this particular round.
“This proposed ban on the M855 seems like an answer to a problem that does not exist,” Gottlieb said.
“The…M855 ball for the 5.56mm/.223 Remington modern sport-utility rifle, provides an affordable option for AR-15 owners to practice, compete, hunt varmints and control predators,” Gottlieb added. “The argument that there is no ‘sporting purpose’ for this ammunition is at best specious. It is the most popular ammunition for the most popular rifle in America today.”
But there is more evidence the BATF and the administration may be clutching at straws. TGM checked data from the FBI Uniform Crime Report for the past two years and found that in 2012, the FBI reported 8,855 homicides involving firearms, of which only 322 were known to be rifles. In 2013, the number of gun homicides dropped to 8,454, of which only 285 involved rifles.
Congressman Bob Goodlatte, in a letter to Jones signed by scores of his colleagues wrote, “Millions upon millions of M855 rounds have been sold and used in the U.S., yet the ATF has not even alleged, much less offered evidence, that even one such round has been fired from a handgun at a police officer,” the Washington Times noted.
“All rifle ammo made with lead…is able to penetrate a soft body ‘vest’ because of the high velocity of rifle rounds,” said Larry Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, in a story published by the Washington Times. “So banning M855 does not advance law officer safety. No police officer has ever been shot and killed with a so-called ‘armor piercing’ bullet fired from a handgun that penetrated a vest.”
Breitbart reported that the National Rifle Association is promising to work with members of congress to fight the proposed ban on Capitol Hill.
“The Obama administration sees no bounds in its attempt to push its left-wing agenda through executive fiat,” Goodlatte and his colleagues said in a statement quoted by the Washington Times. “Because the president failed to ban certain firearms in the past, the administration is now twisting current law to go after ammunition. This is unacceptable.”
The announcement in February set off a buying panic. Various news agencies have been reporting that literally all .223-caliber/5.56mm ammunition is flying off the shelves and prices are rising. That much was confirmed by WBRC in Birmingham, Alabama. That station reported that “talk of a ban has some owners stockpiling ammunition.”
In Nebraska, the Omaha World Herald confirmed that two giants in the shooting and hunting industry – Cabela’s in Sidney and Hornady Manufacturing in Grand Island – are fighting back. As this column noted last week, they’re advising customers via social media to oppose the plan by contacting ATF.
While the proposal was initially made by the BATF, the Obama administration literally took ownership when White House spokesman Josh Earnest defended the proposal during a press briefing in which he said President Obama is convinced the ban will save the lives of police officers, the Washington Times reported. He called it a “common sense” proposal upon which “everyone should agree.”
But it now appears not everyone does agree. Backlash toward the idea has quickly gained momentum, and it might just be that another gun control push from the Obama White House is hitting a speed bump.
Comments may be submitted to the BATF until March 16. Here’s how:
Email: APAComments@atf.gov
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.
