ATF shelves controversial bullet ban proposal
Published March 10, 2015 FoxNews.com
DEVELOPING …
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is shelving a controversial proposal to ban a popular type of bullet, amid opposition from hundreds of congressional lawmakers.
The ATF said in a statement on Tuesday it would not seek to issue the final guidelines “at this time.” The proposal pertained to M855 “green tip” ammunition, used in the AR-15 rifle; regulators looked at banning it because it can pierce police body armor.
The ATF said in a statement on Tuesday it would not seek to issue final guidelines “at this time.” The agency said it will instead wait until Americans have finished commenting on the federal regulations and evaluate their comments and suggestions before “proceeding with any framework.”
The statement follows 52 senators and 238 House members joining in opposition to any attempt the Obama administration might make to ban the ammo.
“ATF will not at this time seek to issue a final framework,” the agency said Tuesday. “The issues raised (so far) in the comments ATF has received to date will require further consideration, and fully processing all of the comments will take time. Given the overwhelming interest in this issue, and the issues raised in the comments received so far, ATF will not at this time issue a final framework.”
Here’s another view from NSSF.
ATF to Not Move Forward with 5.56 M855 Ammo Ban at This Time
Will Review Record Number of Comments
Submitted on Its ‘Framework’ Proposal
ATF announced today that it will not move forward with its proposed framework to ban commonplace 5.56 M855 “green tip” ammunition at this time while it reviews the record number (more than 80,000) comments it has received so far. ATF will continue to accept comments through March 16. NSSF, as the trade association for the firearms industry, looks forward to engaging in a dialogue with ATF to address this issue that led to the now withdrawn proposal. Our industry members hope to meet consumer demand in bringing alternative ammunition products to the market and to continue to sell the popular M855 rifle target ammunition. NSSF continues to strongly urge ATF to grant 32 long-pending petitions to exempt alternative rifle ammunition designed and intended for the hunting market.