Goodlatte Wants Answers from ATF on Ammo Ban Proposal

Katie Pavlich reports that Virginia 6th District Congressman, and House Judiciary Chairman, Bob Goodlatte wants answers from ATF Director B. Todd Jones on the agency's proposal to ban on commonly used AR-15 ammunition.

Last week on behalf of the bipartisan House Judiciary Committee, Chairman Bob Goodlatte sent a letter to ATF Director B. Todd Jones demanding answers about a pending ban on commonly used AR-15 ammunition, better known as 5.56 M855 ball ammunition. ATF recently proposed the ban and broadly cited law enforcement officer safety as its justification, saying the ammunition is "armor piercing," but provided zero evidence to back up their endangerment claim. 

As has been pointed out by numerous sources from gun bloggers to the NRA, this proposal is nothing short of rendering the nation's best selling rifle useless. Obama can't get legislation to ban modern sporting rifles so he is doing the next best thing, making sure they can't be used due to lack of ammunition.

Rep. Goodlatte spoke with Fox News about this issue late last week.

If you live in the 6th Congressional District, please take a moment to thank Congressman Goodlatte for standing up for your rights.  Also, if you have not already done so, please comment on the proposal before March 16th by contacting ATF at APAComments@atf.gov, or by fax at (202) 648-9741. Comments can also be sent through the mail to:

• 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. 

Update: AmericanRifleman.org reports this morning that the Fraternal Order of Police opposes the proposed ban.

NCPA: Banning Traditional Ammunition Harms Wildlife

A new report from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) states that the use of lead ammunition poses a minimal risk to wildlife, while a lead ammunition ban would positively harm wildlife.

"The EPA is not allowed by congress to regulate or ban lead ammunition," said NCPA Senior Fellow Sterling Burnett. "However, even if it were, there is little evidence supporting the claim that lead ammunition poses a significant harm to animals and humans."

NCPA also notes that banning lead ammunition would raise the cost of hunting.

Ninety-five percent of ammunition made in the United States contains lead, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry’s leading trade association. Ammunition made with nonlead materials, such as copper, is often twice as expensive as lead ammunition. If the use of lead bullets or shot were banned or limited, hunters would face significantly increased costs. Rising costs are a significant factor in the decline of hunting over the past 20 years, and higher priced ammunition could exacerbate that decline. This would result in a decrease in revenue for state and federal wildlife agencies that depend upon excise taxes on ammunition and the sale of licenses for funding and wildlife conservation. For instance, hunting and sporting excise taxes cover about three-fourths of the cost of wildlife and fish restoration projectsnotes that lead ammunition sales also fund wildlife conservation. Lead ammunition is much less expense than other forms of ammo and banning.

As with most schemes by the antis, banning traditional ammunition is more about reducing the number of hunters and gun owners than protecting wildlife.  By raising the costs to engage in the shooting sports or own firearms, fewer people can afford to purchase both.  With anti-rights legislators using the latest mass shooting as a means to push limiting ammo sales, gun owners need to remain vigilant and be active in this very important campaign season to ensure candidates who support our rights are elected.

Mainstream Media Picking Up EPA Ammo Story

The story about the petition requesting the EPA to ban traditional ammunition is no longer just a story circulating among the firearms community. Investors Business Daily and The Weekly Standard have both picked up the story.

The IBD editorial is right on target with its analysis.

If the EPA approves the petition, the result will be a ban on all ammunition containing lead-core components. Bullets made of material other than lead are considered armor-piercing by law and are banned. So this amounts to gun control by stealth. Where permitted, it increases the cost of gun ownership and use.

Now is the time to act. Log on to the EPA web site and submit your comment opposing the petition today.

Hat-tip to NRA-ILA Federal Affairs who forwarded the article links to VSSA earlier today.

EPA Considering Ban on Traditional Ammo

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) issued an alert today that the EPA has opened a public comment period on a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) – a leading anti-hunting organization – to ban all traditional ammunition under the Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976, a law in which Congress expressly exempted ammunition. It should be noted that the individual appointed to head EPA by President Obama is none other than Lisa Jackson, the person responsible for ending the bear hunting season in New Jersey when she served in the Corzine administration. Your action is needed now to insure that the anti-hunting crowd does not control the public comment period.

The EPA has published the petition and relevant supplemental information as Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OPPT-2010-0681. If you would like to read the original petition and see the contents of this docket folder, please click here. In order to go directly to the ‘submit a comment’ page for this docket number, please click here.

VSSA urges you to contact EPA and voice your opposition to the petition. NSSF has provided some talking points that you can use in your contact with EPA:

* There is no scientific evidence that the use of traditional ammunition is having an adverse impact on wildlife populations.

* Wildlife management is the proper jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the 50 state wildlife agencies.

* A 2008 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on blood lead levels of North Dakota hunters confirmed that consuming game harvested with traditional ammunition does not pose a human health risk.

* A ban on traditional ammunition would have a negative impact on wildlife conservation. The federal excise tax that manufacturers pay on the sale of the ammunition (11 percent) is a primary source of wildlife conservation funding. The bald eagle’s recovery, considered to be a great conservation success story, was made possible and funded by hunters using traditional ammunition – the very ammunition organizations like the CBD are now demonizing.

* Recent statistics from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service show that from 1981 to 2006 the number of breeding pairs of bald eagles in the United States increased 724 percent. And much like the bald eagle, raptor populations throughout the United States are soaring.

In addition to submitting comments to EPA, you should also contact Lisa Jackson directly as well as your congressman and U.S. Senator.

You can contact Lisa Jackson at:

Lisa P. Jackson
Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 564-4700
Fax: (202) 501-1450
Email: jackson.lisa@epa.gov

3. Contact your congressman and senators and urge them to stop the EPA from banning ammunition. To view a sample letter, click here.

Hat tip to NSSF Blog.