Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., is leading a legislative charge to ban armor-piercing ammunition in the United States, saying “no compelling argument” exists for anyone outside the military or police to have access to it.
“Armor-piercing rounds like green tips should only be in the hands of military personnel or police officers, period,” Engel said, The Hill reported. “There is absolutely no compelling argument to be made for anyone else to have access to them.’First, as far as I've seen, no one, not even once has killed an American cop with the ammo he wants to ban. Therefor at best the measure might potentially prevent someone wearing body armor from being harmed.
Second, I'm not convinced that people wearing body armor deserve extra protection (in the form of AP ammo being banned) form armor piercing ammunition. Incidentally this is the official position of the United States government. That's why they order and pay for the manufacture of the stuff in the first place.
Sometimes people need to be shot. Sometimes those people wear body armor. The fact that they are wearing body armor doesn't detract from the reality that they need to be shot. Again that's what the ammo is designed, produced and sold for.
What exactly does the civilian market in the USA do with these bullets? When the government purchases a surplus of ammo for military use and that ammunition exceeds its expected shelf life, it goes through a "de-milling" process to render it "unfit" for military use. They take the bullets out of the brass shells and throw away the gun powder. What is left over is a big pile of shell casings and bullets. Because these "de-milled" "goods" are considered scrap they are priced accordingly. Hobbyists who are looking for cheep bullets to buy so they can shoot more without breaking bank buy them and shoot them at targets.
That's what happens with the bullets. Gangs aren't buying them up so they can build a reloading shop, manufacture ammunition, build specialty "pistols" based on an AR lower receiver and then after spending all that time and money sneak out and shoot cops. Is it possible that someone, somewhere is stock piling green tip ammo? Sure its possible, but I doubt anyone had much incentive to do that prior to gun grabbers talking about banning the bullets.
Third, an honest government has no reason to care what its law abiding citizens do with ammunition of any sort. Why does Engel fear honest people having ammunition that might potentially be used to shoot someone in body armor? Who is wearing the body armor that would need protection from law abiding citizens in the first place?
I've never bought any green tip that I'm aware of. I know I've shot it, but that's it. I never cared one bit about the AR type guns. Seriously, "assault rifles" or "black guns" or whatever else you want to call them aren't a big deal for me. Normally I wouldn't give 2 cents about anything related to the topic. Now I want to know why, after over 40 years of the stuff being readily available, and no law enforcement problems, suddenly there is a need to ban armor piecing ammunition.
It occurs to me that the US government is the largest consumer of AP ammunition, and the largest second hand seller of the component bullet. If they want to keep hobbyists from having the stuff, all that have to do is, NOT RESELL SCRAP BULLETS to the public. No BATF policy or new laws are needed. Just stop reselling the bullets to people.
