Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut, plans to introduce legislation requiring background checks to buy ammunition.
It is illegal to sell guns or ammunition to felons, the mentally ill and those who have been convicted of domestic violence. However, there are no laws prohibiting anyone from buying bullets from a gun store, retailer or gun show without any review of the person’s background.
Later this month, Senator Blumenthal will introduce the Ammunition Background Check Act of 2013. The legislation will require sellers of ammunition to report to law enforcement any customer purchase of more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition during a five day period. The bill also calls for a ban on Teflon coated bullets and incendiary ammunition designed to explode on contact.
Background checks can be done through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System or NICS. It is used to run background checks on guns. The NICS has run 100 million background checks and prevented 700,000 people from purchasing guns.
There is no reason why a person can walk into a store, stock up on ammo and walk out without giving their name. Purchasing ammunition should be treated like going to a store to buy cigarettes and alcohol. If mandated criteria of the buyer are not met, the seller must void the sale or risk punishment through fines or imprisonment.
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