NRA-ILA: BATFE To Ban Common AR-15 Ammo
M855 ‘Armor Piercing’ Classification Could Drastically Impact Ammunition Availability
In a move clearly intended by the Obama Administration to suppress the acquisition, ownership and use of AR-15s and other .223 caliber general purpose rifles, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives unexpectedly announced today that it intends to ban commonplace M855 ball ammunition as “armor piercing ammunition.” The decision continues Obama’s use of his executive authority to impose gun control restrictions and bypass Congress.
It isn’t even the third week of February, and the BATFE has already taken three major executive actions on gun control. First, it was a major change to what activities constitute regulated “manufacturing” of firearms. Next, BATFE reversed a less than year old position on firing a shouldered “pistol.” Now, BATFE has released a“Framework for Determining Whether Certain Projectiles are ‘Primarily Intended for Sporting Purposes’ Within the Meaning of 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(17)(c)”, which would eliminate M855’s exemption to the armor piercing ammunition prohibition and make future exemptions nearly impossible.
By way of background, federal law imposed in 1986 prohibits the manufacture, importation, and sale by licensed manufacturers or importers, but not possession, of “a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and which is constructed entirely . . . from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium.” Because there are handguns capable of firing M855, it “may be used in a handgun.” It does not, however, have a core made of the metals listed in the law; rather, it has a traditional lead core with a steel tip, and therefore should never have been considered “armor piercing.” Nonetheless, BATFE previously declared M855 to be “armor piercing ammunition,” but granted it an exemption as a projectile “primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes.”
Now, however, BATFE says that it will henceforth grant the “sporting purposes” exception to only two categories of projectiles: Continue reading
ATF Receives Nearly 9,500 Comments on Proposed NFA Trust Rule Change 41P
Responses include 100+ pages from David M Goldman, 17 from NRA-ILA
The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) received 9,479 comments filed regarding docket ATF-2013-0001: Machine Guns, Destructive Devices and Certain Other Firearms: Background Checks for Responsible Persons of a Corporation, Trust or Other Legal Entity with Respect to Making or Transferring a Firearm.
The proposed rule change is summarized on its regulations.gov site as: “The Department of Justice is planning to finalize a proposed rule to amend the regulations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) regarding the making or transferring of a firearm under the National Firearms Act. As proposed, the rule would (1) add a definition for the term “responsible person”; (2) require each responsible person of a corporation, trust or legal entity to complete a specified form, and to submit photographs and fingerprints; and (3) modify the requirements regarding the certificate of the chief law enforcement officer (CLEO).”
In layman’s terms, what 41P does is require anyone obtaining an NFA firearm as a legal entity (e.g. an NFA Trust, LLC, or Corporation) to submit fingerprints, photographs, and proof of US citizenship along with their local Chief Law Enforcement Officer’s (CLEO) approval for each purchase or transfer. In many jurisdictions, this results in de facto ban on NFA firearms where the CLEO refuses to approve NFA transfers either because they are ignorant of NFA items or are outright anti-gun.
Among the comments received is a 17 page document filed by Chris Cox on behalf of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). In his comments, Cox references a number of other comments, including those filed by NFA Gun Trust Lawyer Blog’s David M. Goldman in his 55 page submission accompanied by another 88 pages of supporting exhibits. Cox goes on to point out their three main objections to the change:
First, its requirements are not authorized by the NFA and are therefore illegal for the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to impose. Second, the requirements could effectively block even those who are lawfully entitled to receive and possess NFA firearms from doing so under the very regime Congress created, and most states recognize, for this purpose. On the other hand, ATF has articulated no reason why the current regime has proven unworkable or how imposing these additional burdens on responsible, law-abiding persons would enhance public safety.
The comments appear to be overwhelmingly in opposition to the changes in 41P and articulate many reasons why the proposal should not be implemented. The BATFE must now review all of the submitted comments and replies before making a decision – which is expected to come in early 2015.
Brady Campaign to Gun Control Supporters: “Listen, Dummies”
Via NRA-ILA
Last January, National Review Editor Rich Lowry joined a host of others in denouncing Barack Obama’s use of elementary school children at a press conference to unveil his gun control agenda, calling the spectacle “stupidly exploitative” and “infantile.” A newly-released ad from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, however, suggests some in the anti-gun community have perversely taken that criticism as a challenge. With the new ad, the Brady Campaign seems intent on taking the tone of anti-gun arguments from the school yard to the nursery.
Aptly titled “Gun Laws for Dummies,” the video features an armed cartoon “bad guy” (one suggestive of the popular Angry Birds franchise) wreaking havoc on his illustrated community, using a privately-acquired firearm to break one character’s vacuum and pop another’s balloons. Brady also uses the ad as an opportunity to repeat the invalid statistic that 40 percent of gun sales occur in private transactions and to portray members of Congress as corrupt and rooting for the “bad guys.” As if this all weren’t creepy enough, it also includes narration by what sounds like a preschooler, who suggests that keeping firearms from the unlawful by enacting more laws should be “easy peasy.”
The ad was released as part of a new push to criminalize all private firearms transfers. This move coincides with the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Brady Law. The Brady Campaign’s proposed expansion of federal background checks would force even many family and friends to get government permission for firearm transfers amongst each other and subject all lawful gun transfers to federal paperwork and recordkeeping requirements, the prerequisites for a national registry. Continue reading
Chronicle of Gun Rights War Should be Required Reading for Second Amendment Supporters
If you pay much attention to gun writers, the name Knox should be familiar to you. Likewise, if you pay much attention to the history of the battle for our rights protected by the Second Amendment, the name should also be familiar. Readers of Shotgun News have almost certainly come across regular columns by Jeff and Chris Knox. If you don’t read SGN, you may have seen The Knox Update online, perused Chris or Jeff‘s blogs or followed their work with Second Amendment organizations like The Firearms Coalition. The brothers even recently shared a by-line in USA Today who, unsurprisingly, given the publication’s anti-rights position, filed it under “Opposing View.”
Many, however, may not be aware that the Knox brothers are carrying on the tradition of their forebear. Some might not be familiar with the writings of Chris and Jeff’s father, Neal , whom the gun rights community lost in 2005. After his tenure in the Texas National Guard and some other freelance writing gigs, Neal Knox began selling some of his articles to industry publications like Guns & Ammo and Guns before founding his own publication, Gun Week. Later in his writing career, Neal would also serve as editor for Handloader Magazine and Rifle Magazine.
Neal Knox’s work in the world of firearms wasn’t confined to covering them for glossy (or otherwise) publications, however. A hard-nose supporter of the founding fathers’ ideal that the Second Amendment merely protected an inborn right possessed by all humans, he did Continue reading
Illinois Second Amendment Victory is a Good Start
IL General Assembly has 180 days to craft new concealed carry legislation
Given the anti-gun image that Illinois has, thanks in large part to Chicago/Cook County, people may not have had very high hopes when the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) filed suit in May 2011, suing the state over the prohibition of carrying firearms for self defense. Gun rights proponents and US Constitution/Bill of Rights fans got good news this week when the decision in Moore et al v. Madigan et al was handed down.
The lawsuit alleged that the statutes which ban carrying handguns for self defense are “inconsistent with the Second Amendment.” SAF executive VP Alan Gottleib pointed out that “Illinois is currently the only state in the country that imposes a complete prohibition on the carrying of firearms for personal protection by its citizens.” SAF attorney David Jensen said that it was “incredible that this situation has persisted even in light of the Supreme Court’s rulings in Heller and McDonald”
The 7th US Court of Appeals this week issued a ruling which stated Continue reading
Latest Drop in U.S. Murder Rate Will Confound Critics of Self-Defense Laws
From NRA-ILA:
Giving a positive character to the old expression, “same old stuff,” this week the FBI preliminarily reported that violent crime has dropped yet again – for the 18th time in the last 20 years. According to the report, the estimated annual number of murders dropped 1.9 percent from 2010 to 2011 which, given the increase in the U.S. population during the year, would translate into a drop of between 2.5-3 percent in the per capita rate of murders.
The FBI is expected to report the final 2011 figures around the end of the summer. Assuming those figures match the current estimates, the nation’s murder rate has been cut by about 53 percent and the total violent crime rate has been cut by about 49 percent since 1991, when violent crime hit an all-time high. Stated another way, the nation’s murder rate has fallen to about a 48-year low, and the nation’s total violent crime rate has fallen to about a 41-year low. Continue reading
