The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has unveiled a new “Framework For Determining Whether Certain Projectiles Are ‘Primarily Intended For Sporting Purposes.’” Under that rather bland rubric, ATF says that it will prohibit the sale of ammunition using the M855 bullet, which includes some of the most common types of ammunition used in AR-15 rifles.
This gets rather technical, but briefly, what we are talking about here is the projectile, or bullet. The M855 bullet has a lead core and a steel tip. It is commonly used in 5.56 and .223 cartridges. ATF proposes to ban the M855 as an armor-piercing projectile under the Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act of 1986 and the Gun Control Act of 1968. These laws generally prohibit the sale of armor-piercing ammunition in order to protect law enforcement personnel who wear bullet-proof vests.
Under the statutes, whether a bullet is armor-piercing depends on its materials. A bullet made entirely from steel or certain other materials is considered armor-piercing. However, the NRAargues:
[The M855] does not, however, have a core made of the metals listed in the law; rather, it has a traditional lead core with a steel tip, and therefore should never have been considered “armor piercing.”
Nevertheless, ATF classified the M855 projectile as armor piercing some time ago. Until now, it has been legal because the 5.56 and .223 cartridges in which the M855 is used have been exclusively rifle ammunition, and the definition of armor piercing ammunition includes the requirement that it “may be used in a handgun.” What has changed, according to ATF, is that 5.56 and .223 cartridges that include the M855 steel-tipped bullet can now be used in AR-15-style handguns:
As a result of the availability of these handguns, however, some conventional rifle ammunition now falls within the statutory definition and is properly classified as “armor piercing ammunition,” despite the fact that the ammunition itself has not changed.
Does ATF’s action make sense? Not really. The point of the statutes at issue is to protect law enforcement personnel against armor-piercing bullets fired from concealable handguns. ATF recognizes this purpose:
However, that analysis also necessarily implicates the officer safety concern LEOPA was designed to address—ammunition containing armor-defeating metals that may be fired from relatively small, concealable firearms.
AR-15-style pistols are not small or concealable. This, for example, is SIG Sauer’s P516 pistol. It is 23″ long:
No one is going to take a police officer by surprise with a 23″ long weapon. The Washington Examiner quotes a former officer:
“Criminals aren’t going to go out and buy a $1,000 AR pistol,” Brent Ball, owner of 417 Guns in Springfield, Mo. and a 17-year veteran police told the Springfield News-Leader. “As a police officer I’m not worried about AR pistols because you can see them. It’s the small gun in a guy’s hand you can’t see that kills you.”
Moreover, a knowledgeable reader who works in the firearms industry points out that the “armor piercing” quality of a steel-tipped bullet is really irrelevant. Essentially all rifle ammunition will pierce the vests worn by police officers:
The ban is silly for a lot of reasons. It has been claimed that the ban will protect police officers from this armor piercing ammunition, but in truth ANY ordinary ammunition in .223 / 5.56 caliber will defeat virtually all bullet proof vests worn by police officers, regardless if the bullet is armor piercing or not. This is the nature of center fire rifle ammunition, and its very high velocity relative to pistol ammunition, not to mention long skinny bullets relative to short fat pistol bullets.
Critics of the ban suggest that the Obama administration is trying to achieve a ban on AR-15 rifles through the back door. This ATF standard won’t achieve that result by itself, of course, as most AR-15 ammunition will remain legal. But the fear is not irrational; liberals have openly argued for attacks on ammunition as an indirect means of achieving gun control.
Isn't fighting tyranny the most sporting use of firearms available to man?
ReplyDeleteHollow point bullets are WAR CRIME By the Hague Convention of 1899 , and all other moral codes, DUM-DUM bullets designed to maim are CRIMES. The ONLY legal bullets are solid core. For you pseudo-2nd Amendment Tea Partiers ..... these bullets are meant for YOU. I am sure DHS/FEMA is stocking up. They do not penetrate vests, they DO penetrate CIVILIANS. The ONLY bullets that should be made or permitted are SOLID CORE. Humanity writhed under the boot of despotism for centuries, as ARMORED KNIGHTS rode roughshod over the Serfs, protected by their BODY ARMOR from any hope of the Peasants to gain their Freedom. Then, the English Yoeman learned to make a Longbow with a yard long arrow that went right through that armor, those bows were constructed easily and COULD NOT BE BANNED. PRESTO, the "nobility" suddenly SAW THE LIGHT through those holes in their armor and began to grant RIGHTS to the Peasants. "FUNNY" ..... that the "antigunners" never protest DUM-DUM bullets
ReplyDeleteThe PTB find it "economical" to maim and cripple the Workers in the wars that the PTB will NEVER go anywhere NEAR. THEY will watch on TV while lounging on their WAR PROFITEER yachts. The "DUM DUM" is the Worker who refuses to WAKE UP.
Do you know what is really funny? For years INDEPENDENT people yelled alarms over the Executive Orders and "signing statements" Bush was enacting. The jerks that supported him thought they were all just wonderful. NOW all those restrictions and destructions of YOUR CIVIL RIGHTS are in the hands of your WORSE NIGHTMARE.
ReplyDeleteW-rong Bush hired the former head of the East German Stasi Marcus Wolf to design Homeland Security. Wolf was followed by a train of mutant DUAL-citizens (Chertoff, Napolitano)......
This is a silly game they are playing. If they ban certain kinds of ar 15 ammo, simply switch to 7.62x51. To ban this, they'd have to ban a great many hunting rifles.
ReplyDeleteThe stupidity of the plan is amazing. The tommy gun uses the same ammo as the 45 pistol. if they ban 223 ammo it will on change to a different size. The fear of armed citizens should give people an understanding why we need to keep our right to bear arms.
ReplyDeleteWhat they're trying to do is to prospectively ban the new M855a1 ammo, which is apparently far more effective against hard armor and other barriers, e.g., concrete, than M855 ammo. They simply don't want the peasants to ever get their hands on it.
ReplyDeleteThey also have another more general problem in that the wording of the statute doesn't prohibit bullets with steel tips (or tungsten carbide tips for that matter). So their apparent plan is to take a ridiculously broad construction of the statute and claim that any bullet containing any of the "enumerated metals" is "armor piercing" (statutory words and phrases they don't like be damned).
I have
ReplyDeletebeen firing the M16/AR15 since the thing first came to the military after the
M14. First place, this weapon is not near as good as the Kalashnikov AK, but
here's the kicker: M855 is not an armor piercer. It's a .22 on serious steroids. The M855 is generally a 62 gr. round which was given extra weight - heavier than standard 55 gr - because the 55 gr. round loses velocity and power rather quickly. It requires some extra weight for performance and kill issues beyond a certain point. For some reason, the "green tip" was like a magic paint to people. All I know that it really signified was that it was a NATO round. Some say the core and tip are steel, rather than lead core meaning it can penetrate armor. Good luck with that unless you are only about 15-20 feet away. The core is just extra lead. Still, it's only a .22. You want to penetrate armor? Steel core a .308.
The point here is, many manufacturers make a 70 gr .223. That's what I keep in the combat load. I plink and shoot varmints with the 55 gr.
What they are really doing is just beginning the process of total gun control by eventually making ludicrous claims for all types of ammo and banning or controlling it.
I like the .223 and keep it handy, but when the SHTF I promise that my AR10 and
HK .308 will be the primary battle arms.
Why would the cops be worried about people shooting them in the first place?
ReplyDeleteOhhhh, riiiiight..
Never mind..
Do 3D printers make molds for ammo?
ReplyDeleteHow about we just ban all criminal "governments" oh you know like "governments" headed by a foreign born LIAR. To do this we will at some point need guns. Did not our founding fathers tell us this?
ReplyDeleteAnd woman. Remember the scene in "The Postman" where a woman almost ends the tyranny with a single AR round? Yes a single AR round.
ReplyDeleteNext up the criminals will "ban" reloading. Now why do I call these "government" employees and their boss criminals. Our Constitution, the highest law in the land says you shall not infringe the right of the PEOPLE to keep and bear arms. That is a crime just the same as gun running thousands of weapons to the Mexican Drug Gangs was and IS a crime.