Obama to ban bullets by executive action, threatens top-selling AR-15 rifle

[yota691]

Obama to ban bullets by executive action, threatens top-selling AR-15 rifle

BY PAUL BEDARD | FEBRUARY 27, 2015 | 6:19 AM

 

 

 

 

A warning on the Cabela's website.

It's starting.

As promised, President Obama is using executive actions to impose gun control on the nation, targeting the top-selling rifle in the country, the AR-15 style semi-automatic, with a ban on one of the most-used AR bullets by sportsmen and target shooters.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives this month revealed that it is proposing to put the ban on 5.56 mm ammo on a fast track, immediately driving up the price of the bullets and prompting retailers, including the huge outdoors company Cabela's, to urge sportsmen to urge Congress to stop the president.

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RELATED:NRA steps up push for Sunday hunting

Wednesday night, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, stepped in with a critical letter to the bureau demanding it explain the surprise and abrupt bullet ban. The letter is shown below.

The National Rifle Association, which is working with Goodlatte to gather co-signers, told Secrets that30 House members have already co-signed the letter and Goodlatte and the NRA are hoping to get a total of 100 fast.

"The Obama administration was unable to ban America's most popular sporting rifle through the legislative process, so now it's trying to ban commonly owned and used ammunition through regulation," said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA-ILA, the group's policy and lobby shop. "The NRA and our tens of millions of supporters across the country will fight to stop President Obama's latest attack on our Second Amendment freedoms."

At issue is so-called "armor-piercing" ammunition, an exemption for those bullets mostly used for sport by AR-15 owners, and the recent popularity of pistol-style ARs that use the ammo.

The inexpensive 5.56 M855 ammo, commonly called lightgreen tips, have been exempt for years, as have higher-caliber ammunition that also easily pierces the type of soft armor worn by police, because it's mostly used by target shooters, not criminals. The agency proposes to reclassify it as armor-piercing and not exempt.

But now BATFE says that since the bullets can be used in semi-automatic handguns they pose a threat to police and must be banned from production, sale and use. But, as Goodlatte noted, the agency offered no proof. Federal agencies will still be allowed to buy the ammo.

"This round is amongst the most commonly used in the most popular rifle design in America, the AR-15. Millions upon millions of M855 rounds have been sold and used in the U.S., yet ATF has not even alleged — much less offered evidence — that even one such round has ever been fired from a handgun at a police officer," said Goodlatte's letter.

Even some police don't buy the administration's claim. "Criminals aren't going to go out and buy a $1,000 AR pistol," Brent Ball, owner of 417 Guns in Springfield, Mo., and a 17-year veteran police officer told the Springfield News-Leader. "As a police officer I'm not worried about AR pistols because you can see them. It's the small gun in a guy's hand you can't see that kills you."

Many see the bullet ban as an assault on the AR-15 and Obama's back-door bid to end production and sale.

"We are concerned," said Justin Anderson with Hyatt Gun Shop in Charlotte, N.C., one of the nation's top sellers of AR-15 style rifles. "Frankly, we're always concerned when the government uses back-door methods to impose quasi-gun control."

Groups like the National Shooting Sports Foundation suggest that under BATFE's new rule, other calibers like popular deer hunting .308 bullets could be banned because they also are used in AR platforms, some of which can be turned into pistol-style guns. "This will have a detrimental effect on hunting nationwide," said the group.

 

Original Document (PDF) »

Contributed by: Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner

B. Todd Jones, Director Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives 99 New York Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20226 Dear Director Jones: We are writing to express our serious concern 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)©,” issued on February 13, 2015. The proposed “Framework” purports to establish an “objective” test for determining whether certain projectiles otherwise considered “armor piercing” under federal law qualify for an exemption allowing them to be lawfully manufactured, imported, and sold on the civilian market in the United States. The “Framework,” however, establishes an unduly restrictive standard, does not comport with the letter or spirit of the law, and will interfere with Second Amendment rights by disrupting the market for ammunition that law abiding Americans use for sporting and other legitimate purposes. As you know, the ban on “armor piercing” ammunition was created by the Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act (LEOPA) of 1986. The Act was conceived to protect police officers from the hazards presented by so-called "armor piercing" projectiles–originally designed for law enforcement and military use—that can be fired from handguns and penetrate the sort of soft body armor typically worn by police officers. To do this, LEOPA bans various sorts of non-lead projectiles or projectile “cores” that “may be” used in handguns. As LEOPA’s authors realized, however, bullets fired from most common rifle cartridges can penetrate soft body armor, and some rifle bullets can be loaded into ammunition for handguns. Congress therefore incorporated an exemption into LEOPA for projectiles “which the Attorney General finds [are] primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes” to protect ordinary rifle ammunition from being swept up in the ban. The “Framework” is intended to answer the question of how the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) will make “sporting purposes” determinations. It creates a two-prong test. First, ATF will exempt a “.22 caliber projectile … if the projectile weighs 40 grains or less AND is loaded into a rimfire cartridge.” Second, ATF will exempt other projectiles 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.” Even then, ATF –under this supposedly “objective” test – “retains 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.” The effects of these restrictive interpretations are untenable. For example, since 1986 ATF has considered the M855 5.56 x 45mm cartridge to be “exempt” under the sporting purposes test (although its core contains a substantial amount of lead, raising questions about its classification as “armor piercing” in the first place). ATF has now rescinded that exemption because repeating handguns that fire the M855 round are commercially available. Yet this round is amongst the most commonly used in the most popular rifle design in America, the AR-15. Millions upon millions of M855 rounds have been sold and used in the U.S., yet ATF has not even alleged – much less offered evidence – that even one such round has ever been fired from a handgun at a police officer. The idea that Congress intended LEOPA to ban one of the preeminent rifle cartridges in use by Americans for legitimate purposes is preposterous. While the banning of these popular cartridges is the most visible and immediate effect of ATF’s shifting policy, the “Framework” has other serious implications. It will, for example, inhibit the development and use of rifle ammunition containing non-lead materials, even as efforts are afoot both at the federal and state levels to impose bans or restrictions on lead ammunition. The eventual collision of these trends could result in drastically reduced options for lawful ammunition users. Neither LEOPA nor any other provision of federal law is intended to restrict the development of ammunition or handguns that were designed and intended to be used by private citizens for legitimate purposes. Instead, LEOPA should be construed in accordance with the American tradition of lawful firearms ownership, as protected by the Second Amendment. The term “primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes” should be broadly understood to incorporate the many legitimate uses Americans make of their firearms including target practice, hunting, organized and casual competition, training and skills development, and instructional activities. The “Framework” does not comport with LEOPA’s meaning and intent and should be abandoned. ATF should refocus its efforts on serious threats to law enforcement officers from specially designed armor piercing projectiles that are intended for use in the sort of handguns commonly carried and concealed by criminals. Under no circumstances should ATF adopt a standard that will ban ammunition that is overwhelmingly used by law-abiding Americans for legitimate purposes. Of additional concern is the manner in which ATF issued the proposed “Framework.” The Administrative Procedures Act (APA) (5 U.S.C. 533) requires that “general notice of proposed rulemaking shall be published in the Federal Register…” To date, the “Framework” has not been published in the Federal Register. In order for Congress to more fully understand the rationale behind the “Framework” please respond to the following questions by March 13, 2015: 1) How does ATF determine what constitutes the “core” of a projectile that has more than one discrete component or section beneath an outer jacket and upon what provision of law or other principle is that determination based? 2) Why did the ATF not publish the proposed “Framework” in the Federal Register as required by the APA? 3) Under the “Framework,” what other rounds is the ATF considering regulating as armor piercing ammunition? Thank you for your prompt attention to this request. If you have any questions, please contact Jason Cervenak, Senior Counsel, of the House Judiciary Committee at 202-225-3951. Sincerely,

[stealthwarrior]

They will probably kill me before I am able to use all the ammo I have but I will keep firing until my last round is goner.

[waterman13]

They will probably kill me before I am able to use all the ammo I have but I will keep firing until my last round is goner.

Go dude GO!

Me too!

[George Hayduke]

Strange use of EP; Turn millions of illegal immigrants into US citizens on one day... then the next day turn millions of US citizens who legally own AR's & ammo into felons... 

[Saint]

That my good friends is the POTUS and his cronies who are taking down the United States of America one step at a time. I fear

 

without retaliation from our elected officials who have not been castrated they will succeed.  First in was "O"bummercare, then it was

 

"O"Muslims are peace loving, then it was "O"immigration reform and now it's "O"bantheammo.  :angry:  What's next ???????? "O" "O" "O"

[captl1]

Stealth you are correct..There will be a pile of brass next to me also!

[Texstorm]

If God blesses us with an RV we should all start a quite movement an gather together all of the churches together in the name of freedom and our constitutional rights. I would much prefer to be one of the Lords soldiers than to bow to the Devil. The Muslims are already using their mosques to funnel money to certain groups that are not Americans and while I can't prove it, that's what I believe. "United we stand, divided we fall". Mark 3:25. Mathew 12:25. Luke 11:17

[leanonme]

It is against my religion not to have my AR!

[Texstorm]

I hear you leanonme ! Everyone should have the right to protect yourself and family. However if you want to be part of the bigger picture, the first thing that needs to come about is to gather in numbers. Then you have an army.

[dog53]

Save your brass and learn to roll your own.

Some of my reloads by far surpass store bought rounds in regards to accuracy and bullet speed.

I have hundreds of boxes of .223 and I still reload them as I go through them and If I see a deal I buy more.

Berry can try his underhanded tactics but I don't see it amounting to anything.

Birds gotta fly fish gotta swim and millions of patriots like dog

gotta be free and will fight to the death before giving in and handing over a ruined country to my grandchildren.   

[SnowGlobe7]

i conceal and carry...and i believe if more did there would be less issues...but what do I know. When we go to the outdoor range my brother in law pays my daughter to pick up the brass. He reloads. I am surprised more do not

 

 

[pattyangel]

His goal is to destroy America to the fullest before his term is up...attacking our 2nd Amendment again. 

 

When evil wants to control, what better way than to make the people defenseless. 

 

Time to let your representatives hear our voices. 

[waterman13]

We Are The People

"Try to divide and and conquer, we'll rise up against you"

"If you got a Coat of Arms my friend, I suggest we wear it"

Wm13

[okane]

Welcome to "O"merica

[Karsten]

I don't believe "o" will be stupid enough to set off the 2nd Civil War in this country with a simple Illegal, Unconstitutional EO.......

 

He will turn Millions of Law Abiding Citizens into felons over night while at the same time awarding Millions of Illegal Aliens with a free pass and all the benefits they want....

 

People had better get getting clear in their minds soon as change is coming....you can bow down and be a slave or we can all rise up and take back what was once America....Land of the Brave and Home of the Free.

 

Karsten