House Judiciary Committee chairman Robert Goodlatte (R-VA-6th Dist.) and 99 other members of Congress have signed and submitted a letter to ATF director B. Todd Jones warning that the proposed ban on AR-15 ammo interferes with 2nd Amendment rights.
In the letter, lawmakers criticize the ATF’s creation of a “framework” to assess and ban M855 ammo, saying it “establishes an unduly restrictive standard, does not comport with the letter or spirit of the law, and will interfere with Second Amendment rights by disrupting the market for ammunition that law abiding Americans use for sporting and other legitimate purposes.”
The ATF is basing their ban on provisions within the Gun Control Act 1968 (GCA); particularly on language within a 1986 amendment to the GCA titled, Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act (LEOPA). However, the 100 members of Congress point out that the ATF’s “framework” for assessing and banning M855 ammo “does not comport with LEOPA’s meaning and intent and should be abandoned.”
The ATF is effectively working backwards, in this particular case seeking to apply an “armor piercing” ban for handgun ammunition to rifle ammo as well, based on the fact that handguns exist that can fire the M855 round.
But as Breitbart News previously reported, the lawmakers’ letter to the ATF makes clear:
Millions upon millions of M855 rounds have been sold and used in the U.S., yet the ATF has not even alleged, much less offered evidence, that even one such round has ever been fired from a handgun at a police officer.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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