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Posted on 06/16/2022 6:05:19 AM PDT by Perseverando
Apparently not content with its efforts so far to make gun ownership more difficult and expensive for America’s 100 million firearm owners, a source tells TTAG that the Biden administration is taking steps to constrict the availability of .223/5.56 ammunition available to the average shooter.
A person with knowledge of the situation tells us that, more than just “considering” the move, Winchester, which operates the US Army’s Lake City ammunition plant, has been informed that it may no longer sell M855 and SS109 ammunition produced in excess of the military’s needs on the civilian market.
How would that affect the civilian supply of .223 and 5.56 ammunition? We understand that as much as 30% of the commercial market’s sales volume of .223/5.56 is produced by Lake City.
The motive here is obvious. The Biden administration is attempting to further spike the price of ammunition, squeezing the owners of America’s favorite rifles…the scary black ones that the president assures us are only good for killing people and taking down Kevlar vest-wearing deer.
Let’s face it. Even the hapless Biden administration must realize that they don’t have any realistic prospect of getting another “assault weapons” ban through the Senate. Instead, they’re doing the next best thing. They want to make shooting most AR-15 rifles as expensive as possible for Americans who own between 20 and 25 million AR platform guns.
We’ve reached out to Winchester for a statement on the Biden administration’s move, but haven’t received a response yet. We’ll updated this post when we do.
(Excerpt) Read more at thetruthaboutguns.com ...
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I smell a free market solution somewhere on the Missouri or Ohio rivers. North Kansas City MO would be my pick: rail/airport/river.
Based on the article, it appears that the ammo plant involved is owned by the Army and is run by Winchester for them. Since the US government owns the plant, I think they probably have the right to determine what happens to the ammo it produces. They are preventing Winchester from selling military surplus ammo to the public, not preventing them from manufacturing the ammo at their own plants and selling it. A bit of a d*ck move, but not exactly the same as trying to stop them from selling their own ammo.
“If there are other manufacturers, they will just pick up the slack.”
There are many other manufacturers and they sell the ammo on most street corners in major cities like south Chicago. This little joke falls under the thought that if you don’t sell guns, the criminals won’t get them. Yeah, right.
wy69
Very good ... thanks!
Except it isn't their property. They have a contract to operate Lake City, which is a government-owned facility. Government buys the materials and pays the contractor to produce the ammo. The contract allows for surplus ammo to be sold on the civilian market. The only way to tell the government "no" is to not re-up the contract and walk away. But then you lose 100% of the production, not just the amount sold to civilians.
He doesn’t’ have to know. He’s not in charge.
Winchester should tell Biden to go pee up a rope.
My guess would be since this only mentions the Lake City facility, there is some government contract or agreement in place with Winchester that makes that particular plant a defense contractor location, designated specifically for the manufacture of military ammunition, so Biden likely invoked some contract provision or something that keeps Winchester from selling ammo from that particular plant on the civilian market.
Had a neighbor in Kansas City that retired early. He owned a company, as I recall, that made the larger wooden crates that Lake City used for their ammunition during the Vietnam war. It had a large, on-going, contract and he sold it outright and from age 45 on never worked a day in his life.
Hopefully, Winchester can/will ramp up production at other facilities.
Winchester will just respond by raising their cost for military production. The reason will be because they are no longer able to respond to uncertain potential supply needs by producing more capacity than needed to meet the government’s needs. The commercial sales actually helped keep the price of government ammunition cost effective and AVAILABLE.
Hey Biden, next time you twits think about giving Ukraine or somebody billions of rounds of ammo, etc. think about what you just did. You’re gonna have to pay Winchester et al MORE money that you can’t siphon off to your damned crime cronies.
In any regard, your move didn’t affect me one bit. I lived through the 1994 AWB fiasco and Obama......I got what I needed long before you ever came to power. All you’ve done is increase the price at which I can sell my excess supply LC SS109s by a significant amount......
and first reply. Plant doesn't make civilian ammo anyway.
Maoists in charge.
I didnt mean to be curt, BTW. Lake City is a large manufacturer, and they do have military contracts. But they are not the only supplier out there, and they produce many other products besides 5.56 as well.
Biden has found more ways to piss me off in the last few days than ever before, and thats saying a lot. There are many ways the out of control fed has tried or is trying to strangle the ammunition market. Restricting import of foreign ammunition at first, and now restricting sales of domestic ammunition.
I think the only leverage he has in the case of domestic sales is threatening to pull government contracts. Lake City should tell him to pound sand, and the other manufacturers, when the Fed comes begging for DoD contracts should do likewise.
In the end, our military will buy what it needs. They cant afford to shut down companies just because they also sell to the civilian market.
Potato Head will be sued under the commerce clause. Only Congress can regulate interstate commerce.
“The troops refuse to engage sir”
“I fear our cause is lost”
The US Government OWNS the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant. Winchester currently holds the contract to run it. Historically, the contract has allowed the contractor to sell on open (citizens) market ammunition produced in excess of the government’s needs.
Other manufacturer’s picking up the slack is easier said than done. LCAAP is huge, enough to supply the entire DOD during a world war.
Mayors, governors, and this president, have gotten off on doing this to businesses. It's nearly always been found illegal, when a court finally hears the case, but often, as with Gov. Fatso in Illinois, they drop the case just before it's heard at the final, Supreme Court level (Pritzker agreed churches were actually “essential”).
This is all abuse of power, which should be tried on its own in court, too.
There are no “nonessential” or “essential” businesses defined in Law for us to use or not use.
I mean, in theory, it's ours... we pay the taxes for it... but in practicality, it's theirs.
Nothing short of a revolution will change that.
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