The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) is urging the Obama Administration to use executive action to ban a certain type of popular ammunition. The round the ATF has in its sights is the armor piercing green tip 5.56 round. Since the 1980s, armor piercing ammunition has been banned in the United States under ATF regulations but this particular type of ammunition has been exempt from the ban because of its popularity among hunters and target shooters. However, the recent availability of many new AR-style pistols, which fire the 5.56 round, has the ATF reevaluating the exemption.
Of course, the proposal is garnering both support and rejection among various elected officials. According to an AP report, Republican Bob Goodlatte of Virginia sent a letter to ATF head B. Todd Jones last month in which he suggested that banning this ammunition would go against the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution by “disrupting the market for ammunition that law-abiding Americans use for sporting and other legitimate purposes.”
The proposed ban would only affect this one specific type of ammunition. It would not have any affect other 5.56 ammunition or on .223 caliber ammunition, which is also used in AR-style firearms. The ban would also allow those who currently own the ammunition to continue to possess it legally, only preventing manufacturers from continuing production.
Failed gun control attempts in the US in recent years have led many politicians who are in favor of strict gun laws to focus more on the smaller aspects of gun control, such as ammunition and magazines. In fact, a recent proposal by Democrats in the US Senate would ban magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. In the state of New York, lawmakers say their attempts to ban children under the age of 12 from gun shows is a step in the right direction towards curbing gun violence.
