Eternal vigilance is part of the price of reasonable ammunition costs.
As demand for ammunition continues to outpace supply, it is critically important that an amendment authored by Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) to a seemingly obscure hazardous material bill (HR 4016) be attached to the legislation during consideration on the House floor. When the bill passed out of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Graves secured a commitment from Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to allow a vote on this amendment. The amendment being pushed by Graves will help protect the shipment of materials necessary for the manufacturing of ammunition. Without the Graves Amendment, the rate of production will slip, perhaps precipitously. In-turn, decreased production of ammunition will lead to decreased availability. This will lead to an increase in ammunition prices directly affecting consumers. Given the current high demand for ammunition, passage of the Graves Amendment should be considered critical to gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Floor action on the bill is anticipated within the next three weeks.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) – the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry – is encouraging all hunters and sportsmen to contact Rep. Oberstar and urge him to support the Graves Amendment. Chairman Oberstar intends to bring HR 4016 to the floor prior to the end of the session (most likely between Dec. 8 and 22), so time is of the essence.
Congressman Oberstar can be reached at: (202) 225-6211
The prices were finally becoming reasonable, and now this!?!
Got any links or info as to what this amendment is and exactly what it does? I’m having a hard time understanding why it’s suddenly needed urgently now, and we were fine last year.
Tom, the problem is that ammo is the weak part of the 2A, mainly because ammo consisted only of lead balls and black powder when the 2A was written.
The focus of the gun-banners was changed forever by Heller. They now realize that they simply can’t write law banning guns, so they choose their next target, and it’s ammo.
This amendment tries to stay ahead of the 2A fight by pre-empting future attacks on ammo producers. Those attacks could come from several legal directions, but probably will come via restricting some vital components, say priming compounds, or the metal used in primers. The easiest way to restrict those components is by allowing existing Federal rules on shipping and handling such components to be abused, or inventing new shipping/handling restrictions.
I got in an email from NSSF (just like Uncle did). I’ve never known them to cry wolf, so I’m taking their word for it.