A federal proposal that would ban M855 AR-15 green tip ammo by revoking its "armor-piercing" exemption was revealed earlier this month, angering the National Rifle Association and conservatives across the board.
"The Obama administration was unable to ban America's most popular sporting rifle through the legislative process, so now it's trying to ban commonly owned and used ammunition through regulation," said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA-ILA,
reported The Washington Examiner.
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"In a move clearly intended by the Obama Administration to suppress the acquisition, ownership, and use of AR-15s and other .223 caliber general purpose rifles, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives unexpectedly announced that it intends to ban commonplace M855 ball ammunition as 'armor-piercing ammunition,'"
the NRA said in a statement. "The decision continues Obama’s use of his executive authority to impose gun control restrictions and bypass Congress."
The administration is taking action via the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which on Feb. 13 introduced "Framework for Determining Whether Certain Projectiles are ‘Primarily Intended for Sporting Purposes’ Within the Meaning of 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(17)(c)."
Other prominent conservatives also spoke out against the proposal.
"[Obama] wants to take guns out of everybody’s hands and if he can’t do that, he’s going to take the bullets that go in the guns out of everybody’s hands," Rush Limbaugh said,
according to Breitbart News.
The ammo was previously exempted from the Gun Control Act of 1968 because the projectile is "primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes."
That exemption is now in jeopardy, as the law would be narrowed to only two categories of projectiles under the new regulation, both of which would not include M855 ammo.
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