Every GOP State AG Rightly Warns Against Targeting Ammunition Plant

OpinionBy Larry Keane

Each single Republican state lawyer basic shared the identical message for President Joe Biden and his Workplace of Gun Violence Prevention. Don’t degrade navy readiness or consider using Lake Metropolis Military Ammunition Plant as a pawn in a gun management sport.

The Republican attorneys basic wrote in response to a letter despatched by Democratic attorneys basic to close off gross sales of surplus ammunition to U.S. ammunition purchasers. The Republican attorneys basic warned that any notion of halting ammunition gross sales would have profound detrimental results to navy readiness and reminded the Biden administration that ought to it act on that suggestion, it could be seen as “an overt try to punish Individuals’ train of their Second Modification rights.”

That letter was signed by all 28 Republican state attorneys basic. Each. Single. One.

False Claims

The concept was first floated by The New York Instances, which revealed an article alleging that horrific crimes carried out by deranged people was made doable as a result of a few of these murderers criminally misused ammunition produced on the Lake Metropolis facility. New York’s Democratic state Lawyer Common Letitia James led 19 different Democratic state attorneys basic in a letter demanding the Biden administration assessment the coverage that enables for extra ammunition produced at Lake Metropolis to be offered to the general public.

The Democratic attorneys basic letter was unsurprisingly brief on information however lengthy on false assumptions. First, they falsely declare that 5.56 mm ammunition is for navy use solely. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) gave a sporting-exemption for five.56 mm/.223 caliber ammunition as a result of it’s generally utilized in taking pictures sports activities. That ammunition is used day by day by homeowners of greater than 28 million Trendy Sporting Rifles (MSRs) for lawful functions together with leisure goal taking pictures, searching and self-defense.

Second, Common James falsely claims that 5.56 mm ammunition is “sponsored” by taxpayer {dollars} for personal events. That’s flat-out fallacious. In reality, it’s a whole misrepresentation of the information. It’s the business utilization of the Lake Metropolis Military Ammunition Plant since 2001 that enables the plant to stay at peak readiness. The Protection Division contract requires a portion of the proceeds of these gross sales to be reinvested in upkeep of plant and gear and sustaining a talented unionized labor power to permit manufacturing to surge throughout occasions of battle and warfare with out costing taxpayers extra to ramp up manufacturing.

Matter of Reality

The Republican attorneys basic led by Generals Todd Rokita (Ind.), Austin Knudsen (Mont.), Brenna Fowl (Iowa) and Andrew Bailey (Mo.) didn’t let any of the false rhetoric slide.

“The Democrats’ letter comprises a litany of errors,” wrote the Republican attorneys basic. “These errors exhibit our colleagues’ outright ignorance of firearms and ammunition.”

Republican attorneys basic identified that the first ammunition utilized by the U.S. Military is, in reality, the M855A1 – a cartridge that’s proprietary to the U.S. Military that may’t be and isn’t offered to the general public. In addition they famous that simply because the U.S. navy makes use of a selected cartridge, doesn’t imply it isn’t additionally utilized by the general public. That’s true of .30-06, 9 mm and 12-gauge ammunition, amongst others.

“Gun management advocates are firing blanks after they contend that taxpayers are subsidizing mass shooters,” the Republican attorneys basic defined. “They get causality backward. The law-abiding goal shooters and gun homeowners who purchase Lake Metropolis ammunition are subsidizing nationwide protection and navy readiness.”

They added, “However it can undermine nationwide safety and end in a rise of reliance on foreign-made ammunition—to the detriment of U.S. producers.”

The Republican attorneys basic defined to The White Home that it was the Division of Protection (DOD) that realized that on the outset of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Lake Metropolis facility couldn’t meet the manufacturing calls for. Gear was mothballed and the labor power wasn’t enough. To make sure this might by no means occur once more, DOD starting in 2001 permitted the business utilization of Lake Metropolis so the plant would at all times be capable to reply instantly to a surge in demand and to require a portion of the proceeds from the business gross sales to be reinvested within the plant. Regardless of what Common James alleges, it’s the civilian market that’s subsidizing Lake Metropolis’s capacity to maintain the U.S. navy equipped with their ammunition wants.

Actual Agenda

“Don’t be fooled. The anti-gun radicals main this effort aren’t sincere brokers all for public security,” the Republican attorneys basic warned.

The Republican attorneys basic identified that a lot of these Democratic attorneys basic additionally maintain soft-on-crime insurance policies that do little-to-nothing to carry criminals accountable. They punish law-abiding residents by attacking their rights and refuse to go after criminals that prey on the harmless of their states.

“That is a part of an ongoing, and constitutionally doubtful agenda to cease business ammunition gross sales to be able to weaken the Second Modification. Gun management advocates need to criminalize making ammunition even whereas many push again towards prosecuting criminals that fireside weapons,” the Republican attorneys basic wrote. “Perpetrators of gun violence must be punished—not the firearm and ammunition producers. It’s for that cause, when crime too usually goes unchecked and mass shootings are on the rise, law-abiding residents want the power to arm themselves with efficient weapons.”

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About The Nationwide Taking pictures Sports activities Basis

NSSF is the commerce affiliation for the firearm business. Its mission is to advertise, defend and protect searching and taking pictures sports activities. Shaped in 1961, NSSF has a membership of hundreds of producers, distributors, firearm retailers, taking pictures ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For extra info, go to nssf.org