Proposed ATF AR-15 Ammo Ban Causing Supply Shortages (again)

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATFE or ATF) has decided that M855 AR-15 ammo should be banned. The resulting retail chaos has left consumers with no ammo to buy as the spring shooting season comes in.

Consumers aren’t just clearing the shelves of M855, they’re buying any and all AR-15 (5.56 and .223) ammo, 7.62×39 ammo and just about anything that they worry the Obama administration will go after next.

The reason for slippery slope thinking is clear – once the President gets what he wnats, he will take more.

The ATF has decided to start the AR ammo ban with the popular “green-tip” M855 ammo. Their reasoning is that it is armor piercing and can be shot out of a pistol.

First, the pistols they refer to are gigantic. 10.5 to 14″ long barrels, long buffer extension tubes in many cases and HEAVY. The police are not worried about criminals running around with $1100 “pistols.” They can see those things a mile away. It’s the tiny gun in the palm of the hand that kills most first responders.

Secondly, Class 3A (toughest non-plate) armor would be penetrated by just about any modern centerfire rifle cartridge.  The ATF is setting precedent that any cartridge capable of penetrating class 3a armor is dangerous and should be banned. Tell your teenage son to sell his deer-hunting .308 – those Remington Core-Lokt rounds will tear right through police issue body armor.  The ATF will be coming after those soon too under their current logic.

The Springfield News-Leader reported that local gun stores have seen their stock depleted just hours after the ATF press release on the proposed ban:

“We sold out of what we had in stock,” said Ryan Cook, manager of Eagle Armory in Springfield. “We didn’t have a lot in the store but I might have sold four or five cases after ATF’s statement came out. I called our suppliers but they said there was none available to order. It’s like the ammo shortage before. People are going to panic.”

RAM Arms, a leading seller of ammo and firearms based in North Carolina, says that it’s not just AR ammo the proposed ban is affecting:

Our M855 and inexpensive AR ammo got bought up right away. Even a replacement shipment of over 8,000 rounds got bought up in just hours, said J. Hewett, operations manager. Customers are buying anything you can shoot through an AR or AK in huge amounts and we now have whole shelves with nothing on them.

Stopping the AR ammo ban is nearly impossible. The public comment period ends March 15th and the ATF has already made their decision. Contacting your member of Congress is likely the only way to prevent this ban from spreading into other ammunition the President finds unfavorable (which is all of it)