February 20, 2015

Oppose ATF’s 5.56 M855 Ball Ammunition Ban

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has announced it is seeking to ban commonplace 5.56 M855 ball ammunition as “armor piercing ammunition.” If you have not already done so, all industry employees, target shooters and gun owners should contact your Member of Congress AND the ATF to oppose this unnecessary ban, which is truly a solution in search of a problem and that raises serious questions about executive agency attitude and overreach. Stopped cold on Capitol Hill, this action appears to be the Obama administration’s attempt to pursue gun control by other means.

Commonly available steel-core, “green tip” M855 and SS109 rifle ammunition that is primarily intended and regularly used for “sporting purposes,” like target shooting, has been exempt from federal law banning armor piercing ammunition for decades. There is no question that the 5.56 ball ammo has been in wide use by law abiding American citizens for sporting purposes.

It is with the increasing prevalence of handgun versions of rifle platforms, that ATF now apparently sees an opening to now ban the widely used M855 and SS109 ammunition.

ATF’s proposed “framework” for applying the “sporting purpose” exemption test rewrites the law passed by Congress to disregard the manufacturer’s intention that a projectile or cartridge is “primarily intended for a supporting purpose.” ATF inappropriately places the focus on how criminals might misuse sporting ammunition in a handgun.

Just as disturbing, language used by ATF in its long white paper refers to criminals as a “consumer group.” The implication that the industry purposely sells firearms and ammunition to criminals is misleading and echoes the shopworn charges of the gun control lobby.

Manufacturers will face serious limitations in their ability to develop and market alternative ammunition in other popular hunting rounds, such as .308 rifle hunting ammunition, if ATF’s so-called “framework” is adopted. This will have a detrimental effect on hunting nationwide, especially in California where a total ban on traditional ammunition for hunting is being phased in now.