Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A De-Facto Slam Against the 2nd Amendment?

The Federal Government, under the Obama administration, is now systematically making it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to buy ammunition for firearms:
A recent government policy change has taken a bite out of the nation's already stressed ammunition supply, leaving arms dealers scrambling to find bullets for private gun owners.

Georgia Arms is a company that for the last 15 years has been purchasing fired brass shell casings from the Department of Defense and private government surplus liquidators. The military collects the discarded casings from fired rounds, then sells them through liquidators to companies like Georgia Arms that remanufacture the casings into ammunition for the law enforcement and civilian gun owner communities.

But earlier this month, Georgia Arms received a canceled order, informed by its supplier that the government now requires fired brass casings be mutilated, in other words, destroyed to a scrap metal state.

The policy change, handed down from the Department of Defense through the Defense Logistics Agency, cuts a supply leg out from underneath ammunition manufacturers.

The policy has compelled Georgia Arms, for example, to cancel all sales of .223 and .308 ammunition, bullets used, respectively, in semi-automatic and deer hunting rifles, until further notice. Sharch Manufacturing, Inc. has announced the same cancellation of its .223 and .308 brass reloading components.

"They just reclassified brass to allow destruction of it, based on what?" Georgia Arms owner Larry Haynie asked WND. "We've been 'going green' for the last dozen years, and brass is one of the most recyclable materials out there. A cartridge case can be used over and over again. And now we're going to destroy it based on what? We don't want the civilian public to have it? It's a government injustice."

[SNIP]

WND contacted the Defense Logistics Agency, the Department of Defense's largest combat support agency, several times seeking comment or explanation for the policy change but received none.

The National Rifle Association confirmed to WND that the DLA had been instructed to require the scrapping of the brass casings but declined further comment at this time.

Other gun advocates, however, have sounded off on the issue, eyeing the change in government policy with suspicion and filling the blogosphere with speculation that the effects of the policy change may be deliberate.
Remember, this is a defense department initiated policy. And just who is in charge of the Defense Department? I'll give you one guess.

And before you go accusing me of donning a tinfoil hat, consider this:
Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has worked to assure uneasy gun owners that he believes the Constitution protects their rights and that he doesn’t want to take away their guns.

But before he became a national political figure, he sat on the board of a Chicago-based foundation that doled out at least nine grants totaling nearly $2.7 million to groups that advocated the opposite positions.

The foundation funded legal scholarship advancing the theory that the Second Amendment does not protect individual gun owners’ rights, as well as two groups that advocated handgun bans. And it paid to support a book called “Every Handgun Is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns.”
You see, during his socialist "community organizer" days, Barack Hussein Obama wasn't just home baking cookies. To say that his anti-Constitution proclivities of the past have no bearing on present and future policy decisions is the thought process of a fool.

Slowly and surely, Obama and his merry team of "change" artists are trashing the Constitution and transforming the United States into something that we, nor our founders, would never recognize.

***UPDATE***

This from Georgia-Arms.com

A hardy congratulation is due to our loyal customers, our good friends, and our fellow shooting enthusiasts through out this great nation! Due to the diligent and overwhelming effort of many thousands of you, calling, writing, and emailing our elected officials, DOD Surplus, LLC, has rescinded its prior directive that ALL small arms spent casings be mutilated rather than recycled. This was a huge victory for common sense and we would like to thank each and every person who made an effort and played a role in correcting this mistake. We at Georgia Arms are proud of everyone who took the time and had the courage to stand up for our rights. We believe, that by your outpouring of anger and dismay, you not only extended our liberty and freedoms but also took a stand for economic common sense in a time when we know our government should be trying to reduce costs at all levels rather than throwing money away for some politically correct reason or the other. Again, our hat is off to everyone who helped and thanks to God as well. We will roll up our sleeves and go back to work; we have 223’s and 308’s to build!

While this is certainly good and welcome news, now is not the time to rest on our laurels.

The Obama Administration un-did this policy only because it was brought to light that it was happening.

Look for more underhanded Obama tactics that have the effect of usurping our Constitutional rights in the future. Right now Obama and the Pelosi-crats are crafting legislation that would change the bar of what would be considered "public interest" for radio station licensure as an end-around to passing the "fairness" doctrine. If he can't get his agenda passed through front door legislation, he'll certainly try to use the back door.

The price of freedom, dear readers, is blood, and vigilance.