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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Gun owners are watching a Utah congressman's bill with interest in the hopes this spring's supply-and-demand issue doesn't make a comeback.

In March, the Department of Defense stopped re-selling spent shell casings to be reloaded and resold to the commercial market.

"Instead of selling the spent ammunition to commercial reloaders, that spent brass had to be shredded or crushed first," explains Charles Hardy, public policy director for Gun Owners of Utah (GO Utah).

Four days later, the Defense Logistics Agency issued a news release saying it was reversing that decision after a review.

Regardless of how the decision came about, those four days created a virtual run on ammo. According to Hardy, "this change was made, and didn't require any congressional review whatsoever, didn't require any public hearings. It was a unilateral decision that just happened overnight."

Jason Chaffetz is introducing a bill that would make sure there is a check and balance on a situation like this, in case there is a next time.

Its legislation that Hardy and other gun enthusiasts will be watching carefully.

"I think how the bill is received," he says, "is going to be a little bit of a litmus test for how the current democratically-controlled congress and how the Obama administration view the individual right to keep and bear arms."

Whether it's accurate or not, Hardy says there is a perception out there that the new administration wants to tighten gun controls, and the four days in March only exacerbated the perception.

Chaffetz describes what happened last month as a form of back-door gun control. "They were trying to drive up the price of ammunition, thinking there would be less ammunition sold," he said.

The Department of Defense usually sells over 100 million used shell casings a year for reloading and resale to the public.

E-mail: bbruce@ksl.com

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