On Monday, a White House spokesman avoided a question on the Democrat proposal to restrict ammunition purchases.
The proposal has been reported to be called the “Stop Online Ammunition Sales Act” from Democrats Frank Lautenberg and Carolyn McCarthy. They say that the move is in response to the purchase of ammunition by James Holmes for use in the Aurora tragedy, but as quickly as it emerged, it is likely a pre-conceived ban that was waiting for a tragic event.
The legislation has only one goal: prevent anyone, anywhere from easily and cheaply purchasing ammunition for their hunting or competition rifles or their home protection pistols and shotguns.
The legislation has been reported to have four major provisions that are all tragically flawed. In the following list, some commentary on each of the provisions:
- Anyone selling ammunition to be a licensed dealer (ammunition will get much more expensive as retailers are forced to pass licensing/conformance costs on to consumers)
- Ammunition buyers who are not licensed dealers to present photo identification at the time of purchase, effectively banning the online or mail order purchase of ammo by regular civilians . No way to do this online. At gun shows, this will make ammo as expensive as the huge mega-shops (Bass Pro, etc)
- It requires licensed ammunition dealers to maintain records of the sale of ammunition. Dealers will spend more time and money filling out “books” and less time selling American products. Who wins here?
- Requires licensed ammunition dealers to report the sale of more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition to an unlicensed person within any five consecutive business days Large sales reports are probably the least harmful statute here, but if they get one, they’ll go after the other 3 soon enough.
