Senator Blunt, Colleagues Condemn ATF Proposal Limiting Sporting Ammo

Press Release

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) yesterday joined U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and 51 colleagues in expressing concern for a new proposal that would severely limit access to rifle ammunition primarily used for sporting purposes. This class of ammunition is protected from prohibition under a 1986 Law Enforcement Officer Protection Act exemption. The framework, proposed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), would set arbitrary guidelines for determining whether certain ammunition meets the 1986 law's "sporting purposes" exemption. As a result, access to rifle ammunition long considered to be primarily used for activities such as target shooting and hunting could be limited.

In a letter to ATF Director Todd Jones, the senators charged that the new framework defies the intent of Congress when it passed the 1986 law. They also questioned ATF's authority to establish such a framework and expressed concern for its impact on Second Amendment rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

"Second Amendment rights require not only access to firearms but to bullets. If law-abiding gun owners cannot obtain rifle ammunition, or face substantial difficulty in finding ammunition available and at reasonable prices because government entities are banning such ammunition, then the Second Amendment is at risk," the senators wrote.

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