Posted on 03/06/2015 11:50:14 AM PST by jazusamo
On Friday February 13 at 4:00 pm, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms released a proposal to ban commonly used M855 "green tip" AR-15 ammunition under the guise of law enforcement safety. The same day the proposal was released, on a Friday of a three day holiday weekend, ATF opened up a shortened 30-day period for the public to submit comments about the new regulation.
But it turns out, ATF has been working on a ban of AR-15 "green-tip" ammunition for quite some time and has already issued the ban in its new, 2014 Regulation Guide. For reference, ATF Regulation Guides come out approximately every ten years.
When you take a look at the 2005 ATF Regulation Guide, you'll see an exemption for AR-15 "green-tip" ammunition, which means it exempted from the definition of "armor piercing" and therefore is legal on the federal level.
When you look at the last page of the new, most recent ATF 2014 Regulation Guide, which was published in January, there is no longer an exemption for AR-15 "green-tip" ammunition.
The Office of Management and Budget must review and approve ATF Regulation Guides, which again, come out approximately every 10 years. This can take months and changes to Regulation Guides are not easily or often made. Because of the lengthy amount of time it takes for OMB to approve a new ATF Regulation Guide, ATF's comment period is just for show. ATF officials and the White House have (and never did) no interest in actually listening to or considering comments that are currently being submitted. The exemption for the ammunition in question has already been stripped out of the regulation handbook moving forward and "green-tip" has been reclassified as "armor piercing." The rules have been changed. Further, because of local rules and regulations in different states across the country having their own "armor piercing" standards based on ATF regulations, thousands of people in possession of AR-15 green tip ammunition have been turned into felons overnight.
A review of the timeline:
January 2015: ATF published a new, OMB approved Regulation Guide stripping AR-15 "green-tip" from its armor piercing exemption list.
February 2015: ATF proposes a ban (which they've already put in place through their handbook published in January) on AR-15 "green-tip" ammunition and opens up a comment period.
March 16, 2015: The comment period about the proposed/already implemented ban on AR-15 "green-tip" ammunition closes, ATF ignores tens-of-thousands of comments because they were never going to consider them in the first place, and continues with the regulations outlined in the new 2014 Regulation Guide.
ATF changed the law unilaterally, didn't tell anyone about it and has now put up a bogus comment period that means nothing. Because of these actions, ATF and the White House have not only failed to follow the Administrative Procedure Act, but has gone around Congress to violate the Second Amendment rights of Americans.
Editor's note: The timeline listed above mistakenly said 2014 for all three dates. It has been corrected to 2015.
So, if you already have some and the regulation passes, what happens to your ammo...all 25,000 rounds of it?
I’ve read it bans manufacture and sale, not possession. Don’t know for sure if that’s true.
Ping to post #2.
I read that the Manly GOP has penned a “blistering” letter in protest!
I am sure you can get a copy of the protest by contacting your representative, I heard they are very proud to have their name on such a protest.
/s
Would have to be - confiscation would be foolhardy... they'd be likely to get them all pointy-end first.
Depends on what state you live in. It is not a federal crime to possess Green Tip, it's only illegal for an FFL to sell it.
However, many states, especially the nanny ones, have prohibitions from possessing ammunition that has been declared "armor piercing" and not given a federal exemption.
Check your state laws.
Excellent point. No pun intended.
So just use your deer rifle to kill the cop. No problem.
No, the ATF did not release a proposal to ban M855. They released a proposal to define "sporting purposes" and said that if the definition were adopted they would have to automatically ban SS109 and M855.
A subtle but very important difference. The ATF is trying to redefine the 22 caliber exemption from the federal law by defining "22 caliber" as meaning a projectile of 40 grains or less and loaded into a rimfire cartridge. The rimfire part is not part of the federal statute.
Not funny. But to your point, any .223/5.56 ammunition shot from an AR pistol will penetrate Level IIIA soft body armor worn by Police, so banning Green Tip will not improve officer safety.
And that’s how we are ruled now. 2 or 3 goons collaborate with Obama and there’s the new law disguised as regulation. (what’s the difference). No hearings, no legislating, no voting, just a wave of Obama’s magic sceptre and it’s over.
They can have the projectile any time they want it?
Exempted from the definition of armor piercing means it is still legal.
Well I just ordered another 1000 rounds....
Sporting purposes?
We don’t have an armed citizenry so that we hunt deer. We have an armed citizenry so that we can fight against tyranny. That doesn’t work if the government can have superior firepower, better ammunition, etc. If we cannot have the same quality of weapons that the government has available to use against us, then the Second Amendment is meaningless!
I guess you’ll just to turn all that ammo into the ATF.
One round at a time.
“So, if you already have some and the regulation passes, what happens to your ammo...all 25,000 rounds of it?”
I’ll just have to ‘surrender’ it round by round, I suppose.
Even if possession was banned, which it is not, so what? If/when the time comes that you *really* need it, I don't think this BS ban by our resident fascist masters will matter.
The ATF exemption was always a false claim since M855 was and is not armored piercing or is it pistol ammunition.
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