Are Gun Control Advocates Trying to Ban Rifle Ammunition?

A proposed federal law designed to ban the sale of armor piercing ammunition would make most rifle ammunition illegal.

The law in question is the Modernized Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2013 or HR 2566, introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-California). A number of observers, including Tucson Examiner writer Kurt Hofmann, believe that Speier wants to ban any ammunition that might penetrate body armor.

Body Armor Is Not Bullet Proof

The problem here (as anybody who knows anything about guns knows) is that a heavy round fired from almost any firearm will penetrate most body armor. That would include most of the ammunition used for hunting big game like deer and elk.

The reason for this is that body armor is not really bullet proof. Most body armor is not heavy enough to repel a shot fired right out of a gun. A suit of armor strong enough to deflect bullets would weigh several hundred pounds; a person wearing one wouldn’t be able to move. Most body armor is so thin that the shot will either penetrate it or push the armor into the body and kill or injure the person wearing the armor.

The only place where body armor actually resists rifle fire is in comic books and action movies. In real life, direct rounds from most rifles and pistols will penetrate body armor. The body armor worn by soldiers is designed to protect them from shrapnel and ricochets, not direct hits.

If Rep. Speier’s legislation is really what Hofmann claims it is, it would ban any ammunition heavy enough to penetrate or push in body armor. That’s virtually all the ammunition on the market; not just rifle ammunition, but also some shotgun and pistol bullets as well.

A Sneaky Way to Ban Bullet Sales

This law sounds like a sneaky method of banning the sales of most kinds of ammunition. If the gun-control advocates cannot ban the guns, they’ll ban the ammunition instead.

The only ammunition allowed would be soft enough not to penetrate body armor. Since police SWAT teams and soldiers wear body armor, that might give them an advantage in a firefight.

Keep Your Handgun Locked and Loaded, Ready For Instant Use – Without Fear Of An Accident!

This legislation would also be completely unnecessary because the sale of real armor piercing ammo to the public, the kind used by the military, is already illegal in the United States. It was banned by the Gun Control Act of 1986; there is absolutely no reason for this law.

It should be noted here that real armor piercing ammunition is designed to penetrate the hulls of tanks and other military vehicles. As we noted above, that kind of ammunition is already illegal.

Obviously, gun control advocates know that armor piercing ammunition is illegal. They probably know that the banned ammunition is designed for specifically military purposes.

So what are they really after here? A ban on the sale of most types of ammunition. The advocates know that most Americans support the right to bear arms, but they want to protect children and police officers.

Bullet Proof Backpacks

The gun controllers are trying to use the popular hysteria about school shootings and the publicity received by items such as the bullet-proof backpack in an attempt to severely restrict the kinds of ammunition available to average Americans. The media is helping to feed this hysteria by repeating false claims made by body armor manufacturers such as Miguel Callabero of Bogota, Colombia.

Callabero is peddling what he claims are bulletproof backpacks for school children. He even has a video of a pistol round not being able to pierce one of his packs. (Note: I personally believe that Callabero’s video is probably a hoax using a blank.) Hopefully, The Mythbusters will go after this nonsense in their next season. It’s one myth that needs to be busted wide open.

The problem is that soccer moms who know nothing about guns will be fooled by this nonsense. The same soccer moms will vote for politicians that promise to ban the awful ammunition that can hurt their children, even though the so-called body armor will not protect their children in the first place.

The idea is to capitalize upon anti-gun hysteria in such a way that it won’t be noticed by gun rights advocates. Efforts to ban rifles or shotguns would attract a popular outcry. An effort to ban ammo that can penetrate body armor sounds reasonable to people who know little about guns.

More Sneaky Gun Control Legislation

Unfortunately, HR 2566 isn’t the only example of such sneaky anti-gun legislation in Congress right now. There’s also HR 2567, also introduced by our friend Representative Speier, which would require that all handguns sold in the United States contain technology that prevents them from being fired by the average five-year-old.

Okay, I don’t understand this. What is this technology and how it would it work? Would it mean that all handguns sold in the United States have to contain some sort of electronic locking system? Would that mean you have to enter a combination into your gun to fire it? Such a gun wouldn’t be very effective when a criminal is coming at you.

The idea here is probably to protect children from gun accidents. There are already plenty of measures such as gun safes and common sense to do that.

A more likely scenario is that this is a means of trying to ban all handgun sales or at least handgun sales to the general public by requiring gun manufacturers to install technology that doesn’t exist. It might also be a means of making handguns prohibitively expensive so that only rich liberals, such as members of Congress, will be able to afford them.

Anti-gun hysteria has spawned a sneaky new generation of gun control laws that are trying to ban all weapons in the name of protecting the children. Hopefully, supporters of the Second Amendment in Congress will kill these ridiculous laws before they severely restrict the rights of average Americans.

Supporters of gun rights need to watch Congress like a hawk right now. Hysteria has given anti-gun legislators the opening they need to try and ban all or most firearms and ammunition.