Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
New York Lawyer Common Letitia James led a multi-state coalition of 20 attorneys normal calling on the Biden administration to halt the sale of 5.56 caliber ammunition to civilians by the Lake Metropolis Military Ammunition Plant, a Missouri-based provider for the U.S. navy.
“Billions of rounds of military-grade ammunition manufactured on the Lake Metropolis Military Ammunition Plant have been offered on the industrial market, resulting in their use in most of the most tragic mass shootings in current historical past,” the AGs said in a Jan. 9 letter to the White Home Workplace of Gun Violence Prevention. “We ask your Workplace to conduct an investigation into the contracting processes that led to this example, and to take motion to make sure that military-grade and military-subsidized ammunition stays out of civilian palms.”
The letter was signed by AGs from Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Whereas many of those states have been enacting restrictions on firearms, others, together with Arizona and Vermont, preserve a convention of comparatively permissive gun legal guidelines.
Nonetheless, all signatories expressed their want to limit civilian entry to ammunition generally utilized in semi-automatic AR-15-style rifles, citing of their letter mass shootings during which the 5.56 caliber was used.
“Ammunition from Lake Metropolis is manufactured for navy use and doesn’t belong in our communities,” the AGs said, “We ask the White Home to make sure that future manufacturing contracts prohibit the sale of navy weapons and ammunition to civilians.”
Gun Rights Group Disputes Claims
Advocates for firearms rights took difficulty with the arguments of Ms. James and her co-signers.
“That is one other try by gun management advocates to chip away on the capability for law-abiding gun homeowners to train their Second Modification rights to maintain and bear arms,” Mark Oliva, public affairs director on the Nationwide Taking pictures Sports activities Basis, instructed The Epoch Instances. “This try is very harmful as a result of their objective of denying the sale of ammunition produced at Lake Metropolis can be detrimental to navy readiness.”
AR-15-style rifles are the preferred sort of rifle offered in the USA. Over the previous three many years, the share of AR-15-style rifles rose from round 1 p.c of all firearms produced to virtually 25 p.c by 2020.
Right now, there are an estimated 20 million AR-15-style rifles owned by American civilians. Whereas banning them has usually been a objective of gun-control advocates, arguing that their elimination will cut back gun violence, rifles have been utilized in solely 4 percent of U.S. gun deaths, in keeping with the FBI’s Crime Knowledge Explorer.
The Lake Metropolis plant has been a provider to the U.S. navy because it was established in 1940, as the primary of 12 small arms crops supplying America’s armed forces. Right now it occupies 3,935 acres and consists of 375 buildings.
Based on a press launch from Ms. James, “the federal authorities has invested over $860 million to enhance manufacturing at Lake Metropolis, which means taxpayer funds are subsidizing manufacturing of those harmful rounds offered to civilians.”
Lake Metropolis at the moment manufactures an estimated 30 p.c of all 5.56 ammunition offered to the American public. It has historically offered its extra manufacturing to civilians as a option to maintain its peacetime capability at a ample degree that it will not need to face staffing or gear shortages throughout wartime.
“It was the Protection Division’s concept that ammunition produced in extra of protection contracts must be allowed on the market to the civilian market in order that income constituted of these gross sales might fund the required upkeep of instruments and a talented labor drive to have the ability to flex and meet the calls for of the Protection Division throughout a time of battle,” Mr. Oliva stated.
“Opposite to the false claims that the navy subsidizes civilian ammunition gross sales, the sale of ammunition produced at Lake Metropolis reduces the price to taxpayers as a result of it ensures that the manufacturing functionality stays able to surge when wanted and no further tax {dollars} are required to exchange idled gear or rehire and retrain the expert employees wanted to make sure our navy has the ammunition vital to guard our nation.”
Along with 5.56 rounds, many different calibers utilized by the navy are additionally in civilian use, and adjust to rules set down by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
“Different calibers of ammunition generally used for lawful functions by civilian gun homeowners embody 9mm, .308, .30-06, and 12 gauge shotgun cartridges, that are additionally utilized by the U.S. navy,” Mr. Oliva stated. These rounds are generally used for looking, goal capturing, or self-defense.
“Regardless of unsubstantiated claims made by these attorneys normal, calling Lake Metropolis ammunition ‘military-grade’ is an try and falsely label the ammunition for political functions,” Mr. Oliva stated.
The Epoch Instances reached out to Ms. James’ workplace for remark, however there was no response on the time of publication.
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