When the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives backed off from (for the moment) last week from their intent to ban M855 “green tip” ammunition, because of the threat it ostensibly poses to law enforcement officers (a “threat” that seems not to ever have materialized in the nearly 30 years of the ammo’s availability on the civilian market), the anguished bleating of the gun ban zealots was long and loud.

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence called it a “[v]ery disappointing decision”–language echoed by House Democrats, who added their contention that it is within BATFE Director B. Todd Jones’ “existing authority” to go ahead with such bans. Congressman Eliot Engel, (D-NY) was in particularly high dudgeon:

“Armor piercing rounds like green tips should only be in the hands of military personnel or police officers, period. There is absolutely no compelling argument to be made for anyone else to have access to them,” Congressman Engel said. “But the out of touch gun industry lobby is fighting tooth and nail to keep cop-killing ammunition [which seems not, in nearly 30 years, succeeded in killing a single cop] on the streets. We need to speak up on behalf of our police officers and say ‘stop the madness.'”

Engel introduced his bill to ban “armor piercing” ammunition last week, with H.R. 1358, the “Armor-Piercing Bullets Act.” From the text of the bill, the intent seems to be to grant the BATFE the authority to do just want that agency wanted to, with the proposed M855 ban. The obvious question here would be, “If the BATFE already, as House Democrats claim, has statutory authority to implement such bans, why would Engel feel the need to introduce legislation granting that authority”? Engel also indicated that he would soon be once again introducing his perennial attempt to ban the FN Five-seveN and its ammo–another “cop-killer” with little if any history of “cop-killing” in the U.S.

FK – Are we to assume that all these commies are representing that much support for this evil in their home districts or are they under orders from other places? Those are the questions that matter.

Legal compliance firm for gun dealers says B. Todd Jones leaving ATF for NFL