At the end of February, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms issued a lengthy epistle on "determining whether certain projectiles are 'primarily intended for sporting purposes.'" Anyone who read the 17-page memo would learn that the ATF was considering a ban on M855 ball ammunition, and that citizens had until March 16 to comment.
Now that the ATF has buckled, and bailed on the rule, we can find lessons in the wreckage.
Anyone who had a glancing familiarity with gun rights or gun owners—anyone, it seems, who didn't work for the ATF—could have predicted the next step. M855 "green tip" ammo flew off the shelves, as ammo and guns have every time President Barack Obama's administration made a move. Obama's election in 2008 kicked off a surge of gun-buying, and it's never been controversial to call him America's "number one gun salesman." On conservative news sites, at gun shows, it's been easy to find people fretting the coming gun grab. And here was the Obama administration, grabbing ammo.
"He can't win at the ballot box, he can't win in the Congress," said NRA vice president Wayne LaPierre to Fox News last week. "Now, he is trying to act like a dictator and planning on forcing this ban, ammo ban, on the American public by executive regulation."
Outside the conservative media, coverage of the panic came in two flavors. The first: Color stories about people snapping up ammo. The second: Eye-rolling about the Republicans telling people to fight the ATF rule. TheDaily Beast, for example, used a PAC message about the rule from Kentucky Senator Rand Paul as a case study in how he seized on conservative panics to build his e-mail list.
There's more here
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
4 comments:
The people attempting to regulate firearms do not know or understand the nomenclature of firearms and ammunition.
5:50 Yes, it's like these same career politicians mandating medical and health related legislation. They don't understand it. Or the ramications for those subject to those thoughtless laws.
With the right molds, ammo can be easily made. I know people out there that do this now to save on the cost of ammo.
The ammo that they focused on was the 223 or 556 .
They didn't do their homework as usual.
The most popular gun and ammo for the criminal is the AK47 , there are millions in the U.S..
This gun takes a 7.63-39
not even close to what they wanted to ban.
Most drive by shooting (a nightly thing in Chicago) are done with this weapon. It is the preferred weapon for the minority groups.
This gun is popular world wide and is proven to be better than any AR rifle in the US.
Of course I don't expect the media to know what the hell they are talking about.
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