DoD under Obama squeezes already tight ammo supply

March 16, 8:34 AMGun Rights ExaminerDavid Codrea

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   Courtesy Oleg Volk, A Human Right

It looks like I'll need a break in the news to get back to my follow-up on Mike Bloomberg. In a way it's nice knowing his legal setbacks have caused his importance as a priority for gun owner attention to decline. But the stories pushing him to the back burner represent real threats we need to not only be aware of, but to take action on. Without delay.

It's no surprise to active shooters that ammunition sales are soaring, causing price hikes and shortages. We've seen more and more Americans waking up to gun rights in recent months, and we've seen long-time gun owners stockpiling in anticipation of anticipated bans.

We've even seen (and defused) some rumors, and passed other information along hoping to find the truth. And we've noted backdoor attacks on ammunition using the environmentalism club, and an "accountability" ploy designed to enrich a few at the rest of our expense.

Add to all of this a heightened demand from law enforcement (what, you didn't think citizens were the only ones getting serious about supplies, did you?), and conditions are ripe for severe shortages. All they need are a little push.

I noted that push last Friday. I passed along an alert from our friends at Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, who in turn passed along an alert from our friends at Montana Shooting Sports Association. The bottom line?

An agency of the Department of Defense has just directed that all military fired brass must be destroyed.

What does this mean to ammunition supplies?

Gordon Hutchinson, "The Shootist" tells us:

Now it has come clear...now we know what they intend to do.

It is an end-run around Congress. They don't need to try to ban guns--they don't need to fight a massive battle to attempt gun registration, or limit "assault" weapon sales.

Nope. All they have to do is limit the amount of ammunition available to the civilian market, and when bullets dry up, guns will be useless.

Hutchinson presents "copies of two letters sent to Georgia Arms just Thursday evening--effectively canceling a contract he had to purchase 30,000 pounds of expended military brass in .223, 7.62mm, and .50 caliber," and concludes :

From now on, remanufacturers of military brass will not be able to buy surplus brass from DOD--actually from Government Liquidators, llc.--the corporation that sells surplus materials for the U.S. government. At least, not in any form recognizable as once-fired brass ammunition.

Now all brass ammunition will have to be shredded, and sold as scrap...with this hit, ammunition prices will go through the roof in the next year.

At a time when we're told the government needs more money.

We're also told Tom Gresham featured this topic prominently in his Sunday broadcast (hey, he also had this guy on in the first hour.

So what do you need to do?

Start with a strong objection to your representatives in the Senate and the House. Hutchinson presents a good letter to template off of.

There's one other avenue we need to factor in. MSSA, through the JPFO alert tells us:

[Max] Baucus is Chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. He could simply call the Pentagon and tell them that if they don't reverse this DLA directive that the Pentagon will suffer a mysterious budget cut of several billion dollars. Also, Baucus's former Chief of Staff, Jim Messina, is now Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House. If Max called Jim and asked, Jim could fix this problem with a phone call too.

Really? Because Baucus is one of those NRA-endorsed Democrats I keep hoping will place principle above party pressure when it's really turned on. As I see it, NRA needs to do two things:

1. Get and publicize complete information on what is happening (so far, I see no news release and no alert), or in their words:

If it's a legitimate concern, rest assured your NRA-ILA will promptly address it and will give you the straight story.

Please. And without delay.

2. Let Sen. Baucus and the other "pro-gun" Democrats (and Republicans) know that--unlike the Holder nomination--this is something that will affect their ratings.

And GOA: We could do well with some immediate leadership in this matter from you, too.