Score One For The Good Guys

Every once in a while this country still works the way it is supposed to.

How angry gun owners shouted down a ban on armor-piercing bullets

That didn't take long.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Tuesday it was backing down from a proposed ban on manufacturing and selling one of the most popular bullets used in AR-15 semiautomatic rifles.

The agency pulled the plug early, with still a week to go before the end of a one-month informal comment period on the proposed rule change that would have targeted these armor-piercing bullets. The ATF noted it had received more than 80,000 comments, and "the vast majority of the comments received to date are critical of the framework, and included issues that deserve further study."

Criticism by gun-rights groups has been withering, accusing the agency of a "back-door" attempt at gun control with the proposal it announced Feb. 16.

The ATF proposal targeted 5.56mm "green tip" ammunition in SS109 and M855 cartridges. The armor-piercing bullet had been sold for years under an exemption to a 1986 law that sought to crack down on so-called cop killer bullets. Exemptions were granted if the ammunition was used mostly for sporting purposes -- hunting and target shooting -- and not in handguns. Now, the ATF sought to strip the "green tip" ammo of its exemption because of the development of AR-15 handguns that could fire the bullets.

Let's pause for a minute and think about that last paragraph. Exemptions are granted "if the ammunition was used mostly for sporting purposes -- hunting and target shooting -- and not in handguns." Hunting and target shooting is by far the most common use of the 'green tip' ammo. There are very few handguns held by the general public capable of shooting it. Likewise, to date there has not been a single case of a LEO being killed by a 'green tip' round.

Other issues:

The first and most important aspect is how the government defines “armor piercing.” Any type of centerfire rifle ammunition — and there are hundreds, including the AR-15 green tip — can penetrate a law enforcement vest. If the ATF can ban this type of ammunition under the argument that it is “armor piercing,” it can ban all centerfire ammunition. 

Second, the Obama administration has argued this ban is necessary to protect law enforcement, when there is zero evidence to show green-tip ammunition poses a special threat to law enforcement.

“Any ammunition is of concern to police in the wrong hands, but this specific round has historically not posed a law enforcement problem,” Fraternal Order of Police Executive Director James Pasco told the Washington Examiner recently.

This proposal isn’t about armor-piercing ammunition or protecting police officers. It’s about banning ammunition widely used in America’s most popular, and Obama’s most hated, rifle: the AR-15.

Exactly. And don't be misled by this apparent victory for gun rights advocates. Note the wording of the ATF press release.

...ATF will not at this time seek to issue a final framework. After the close of the comment period, ATF will process the comments received, further evaluate the issues raised therein, and provide additional open and transparent process (for example, through additional proposals and opportunities for comment) before proceeding... (emphasis added)

Very critical point there: the proposed ban has not been terminated - it has merely been 'put on hold.' To understand what that means we only have to look back one year.

Last year, the ATF successfully banned Russian-made 7N6 bullets on the grounds they were armor-piercing. Some gun-rights groups objected, but that ruling stood.

"We didn't put it out to comment," (ATF spokeswoman Danette) Seward noted. (emphasis added)

Once things have settled down, be on the lookout for an upcoming ban with no comment period. You can't trust those anti-gun fanatics any further than you can trust hillary clinton (you didn't think I'd forgotten about her, did you?)

HILLARY TELLS DEMS, PRESS TO SUCK IT UP

Hillary Clinton had a pretty straightforward message for Democrats and the media: Suck it up. She’s all they’ve got. There’s no viable alternative to her other than a Republican president. So they will have to choose whether they will side with her or with the GOP. Clinton even said that she would much rather have been there making partisan attacks on Senate Republicans, but noooooooo… she had to speak about her emails. All of those in the media and in Congress who had cautiously suggested that Clinton should show she was innocent of wrongdoing by coming clean got a big, wet raspberry from the Democratic frontrunner. The woman who has had attendants by her side since the late 1970s offered one flimsy excuse – convenience – for having operated a secret email server for government business every day of her tenure as secretary of state. And after that, it was just plain dismissive.

Audacity of ‘nope’ - Clinton said she has already destroyed – or, in Clintonian terms, “chose not to keep” – the evidence that would corroborate her claim of transparency. And she will not allow any outside access to the servers. Poof. Hard delete, indeed. Where Richard Nixon claimed the missing minutes from his audio tapes were accidentally erased, Clinton simply said she destroyed the stuff. A tactically better choice than Nixon’s, perhaps, but it’s beyond audacious. Now Republicans can choose whether or not to subpoena the servers, which were designed to leave no traces of deleted items. But she’s not taking any chances. Investigators can now decide whether a lengthy legal fight with the Clintons, possessed of limitless resources and huge influence, is worth it for something the candidate says is already gone.

The arrogance of that bitch surpasseth all understanding...