Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) has introduced a bill to counteract the Obama administration’s push to outlaw an immensely popular type of ammunition used by gun enthusiasts all over the country.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives proposed new rules last month that would ban the manufacture or sale of bullets they define as “armor piercing”; bullets that could potentially go through bullet proof vests. This would include 5.56 mm ammo, used in the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. This ammo is currently allowed for sporting purposes.
Rooney’s legislation, the Protecting Second Amendment Rights Act, would block the move by forbidding “ATF or any other federal agency from issuing or enforcing any new restriction or prohibition on the manufacture, importation or sale of ammunition in the United States.”
“The Obama Administration’s proposal would unilaterally strip law-abiding hunters and sportsmen of their Second Amendment rights,” Rooney said in a statement accompanying the bill. “Congress has made its intentions clear that this ammunition is for sporting purposes and should not be restricted. We cannot and we will not stand by while the Obama Administration tramples on the Constitution, the rule of law, and the Second Amendment rights of hunters in my district and across the country.”
Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia and the National Rifle Association have circulated a letter objecting to the proposal, which gained 172 signatures in just two days.
“Millions upon millions of M855 rounds have been sold and used in the U.S., yet 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,” it reads.
