This is just breaking. The ATF is backing off on their attempt to ban M855. Here is the story reported from The Hill: ATF shelves bullet ban proposal | TheHill.
While this is a very good thing, there are a few very disturbing facts that came out of this debate.
First, even our supporters kept referring to M855 as a “popular armor piercing bullet.: This is NOT true any more than it is true for any other centerfire rifle round and we really need to get that message out.
Second, what kept getting dropped from the conversation is the precedent that this sets. What we would have with this ruling is the precedent of a standard rifle round being banned because it can defeat body armor. This is a case of letting the camel’s nose into the tent. Remember every rifle cartridge over .22 rimfire will defeat body armor and there are handgun variants for almost all of those cartridges.
Finally, I’ve thought the “correct” action to this badly described “Framework” would be to actually apply their definition to M855. If done so, it would not be classed as AP and wouldn’t even require an exemption. Indeed, my thought is that with their pulling back, we should really keep up the pressure and push for the outcome that an exemption is not needed. If we do not, I fear we will be fighting this battle all over again in the near future.
Anyway, it was a battle well fought, so let’s celebrate the victory and continue the war.
Basically, my suggestion is that if you were holding off on writing to see what develops, you still need to send them a comment. Don’t simply let this go away or it will be back and in a much more covert manner. I would still suggest to push on the idea that M855 shouldn’t need an exemption anyway, since it does not fit either of their definitions, nor the military’s, of “armor piercing.”
Finally, we need to learn a lesson from the Progressives. To many times we simply go for the momentary win and ignore the long game. We need to keep it up and continue pushing them back.