Gun rights activists maintain government purposefully deleted ammo it wants to ban

Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
March 10, 2015

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has issued an apology for angering Americans by claiming there is already a ban in place on AR-15 “green tip” ammo.

The claim was made in an online regulations guide posted in January. The guide failed to list .223-caliber M855 ammo as currently exempted from a ban on armor piercing ammunition.

The omission made it appear that a ban was effectively already in place and that PresidentObama’s proposal to issue an executive order on the matter was merely a formality.

Calling the claim a “publishing error,” the ATF claims it “has not rescinded any armor piercing ammunition exemption, and the fact they are not listed in the 2014 online edition of the regulations was an error which has no legal impact.”

“ATF apologizes for any confusion caused.” the agency added in a statement.

Gun rights activists are not convinced, however.

“They claim it wasn’t done on purpose. It’s a pretty egregious mistake to put the document out after a review by OMB and internal ATF staff, when they knew this issue about armor-piercing ammunition was of such importance to industry,” said Larry Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “They’ve ‘corrected’ it, and we’re glad they did.” Keane added.

Townhall writer Katie Pavlich, who first covered the story is also skeptical of the ATF’s apology. “Considering the Office of Management and Budget must approve new Regulation Guides, which come out approximately every 10 years, are difficult to change and take months to review, that’s quite the “publishing mistake.” Pavlich notes.

“For this ‘publishing mistake’ to occur, someone would have had to delete an entire section from the guide, which just happens to be the section about ammunition the Obama administration is currently trying to ban.” she adds, clearly suggesting that it is NOT a coincidence.

“Somehow this ‘publishing mistake’ looks a lot like ‘deleting’ ammunition ATF is trying to ban without the consent of Congress or a proper public comment period as required by law.” Pavlich concludes.

The ATF says it is receiving comments about the proposed ammo ban until March 16.

The proposal has caused consternation among hundreds of lawmakers who wrote to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) last week, urging it to “abandon” the plan.

“Under no circumstances should ATF adopt a standard that will ban ammunition that is overwhelmingly used by law-abiding Americans for legitimate purposes,” the lawmakers wrote.

In addition, Senator Rand Paul has urged his supporters to halt the ammo ban, calling it “a backdoor route to imposing President Obama’s gun control.”

NRA head Wayne LaPierre also warned that if Obama’s executive ban goes ahead, it will set a dangerous precedent for the future.

“The one he’s trying to ban is the 5.56, it’s a small rifle cartridge. The thing is, if he can ban that because it pierces soft body armor… under this standard, he can ban all rifle cartridges, because all of them pierce soft body armor.” LaPierre said during an appearance with Lou Dobbs.

Meanwhile, top police representatives have said that there is no real need to implement a 5.56 ammo ban, because it isn’t a threat faced by law enforcement.

As the following report notes, the green tip ammo is not the most powerful rifle ammo. Indeed, it is not even officially considered armor piercing, it is simply the most popular, which is why the federal government is going after it.

In response to the proposed ban, customers are purchasing AR-15 ammo in volumes up to 20 times the normal rate in some gun stores across the country. The panic buying has caused prices to double.

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Steve Watson is a London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.

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