By Raquel Okyay - 6/23/2013
An international firearms dealer said the White House is blocking ammunition sales to American citizens as federal agencies continue to stockpile.
“There are elements in the United States government moving to obstruct commercial ammunition sales,” said Anthony Melé, an international firearms dealer and owner of AMI Global Security, LLC. AGS is a defense trade and manufacturer’s exporter registered with the U.S. Department of Defense and the United Nations.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives denied AGS’s application for an ammunition-order by designating typical rifle rounds as armor piercing if they are made with a steel core instead of a lead core, he said. “They designated the ammunition AP, defined as armor piercing, even though the ammunition being supplied cannot pierce armor.”
“If ATFE were accurate, then a ten-cent bullet could penetrate a $5 million Abrams tank,” he said. “Obviously this makes little technical sense.”“What makes a bullet armor piercing along with the caliber, full metal jacket brass is the projectile of the bullet, not the inner core,” he said.
“We secured a deal between an international supplier and an American wholesaler for four million rounds of ammunition used typically with semi-automatic rifles, after a three-month intense negotiation process that started in January,” said Melé.
They successfully negotiated many licenses, approvals, and shipping details in order to transport the ammunition over multiple borders to close the sale, only to be rejected by ATFE, said the U.S. Army veteran. “There were technical difficulties involved, but we were able to successfully lock all parties into an agreement. It was not easy.”
After the deadly Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that resulted in 26 deaths, including the lone-gunman, President Barack H. Obama Jr. called for immediate action and concrete gun control policies.
Melé, who studied international diplomacy and international conflict management at Vermont’s Norwich University, said they suffered a significant loss due to the anti-Second Amendment antics of the Obama administration, which have a hidden agenda of disarmament.
The AP designation is an excuse to decrease commercial sales of ammunition, he said. “There is a real shortage of ammunition in the United States perhaps due to the Obama administration buying-up the entire surplus and directing agencies to block ammunition imports.”
Republican lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives introduced a joint bill in late April that would limit the amount of ammunition federal agencies, except for the Department of Defense, are permitted to purchase.
“The Obama administration has prevented Americans from obtaining the very same rounds that the government is buying,” Melé said.
“Some would opine that the steel core bullets are the dreaded cop killer ones, but that too is inaccurate when the projectile disintegrates on impact,” he said. Teflon-coated bullets, sometimes colloquially known as ”cop killer bullets” are covered with a coating of polytetrafluoroethylene. Developed in the 1960s for improved penetration against hard targets, the product was discontinued in the 1990s.
“After the Sandy Hook tragedy, ammunition supply decreased dramatically,” said Enrique A. DeJesus, who is a U.S. Air Force veteran and avid sportsman from Rotterdam, N.Y.
Prices for ammunition have gone up considerably and major stores are in short supply.
“I prefer to support my local gun store American Shooter Supply before looking elsewhere, but the situation is basically the same wherever you go,” he said.
To accommodate its customers, ASS has introduced a service where customers can sign up and are notified via text or phone when ammunition has arrived, he said. “It is their way of being customer-focused and doing their best to deliver ammunition in the current anti-gun climate.”
DeJesus, who studied political science with an emphasis in law at New Paltz University, said there is a small group of ammunition buyers who are capitalizing off the government’s ammo-grab. “They are purchasing bulk quantities and re-selling at a marked-up price, essentially price gouging.”
Price gouging is when a seller prices goods much higher than what is considered reasonable or fair. “As a result, firearms enthusiasts have to decide whether those high prices are worth it,” he said.
“While defensive ammunition is readily available versus the scarcity of target ammunition, it is more expensive and contains hollow points which expand upon entry and are not ideal for training purposes,” he said.
“Target or ball ammunition contains a solid projectile which does not expand upon entry and is better suited for training. Currently these are the hardest to find,” he said.
DeJesus said that the exercise of our Second Amendment right has been temporarily neutered because of an artificial ammunition shortage.
Nonetheless, all guns are lethal, he said. “People ought to be involved in some type of continual training to maintain proficiency and readiness, since it is a perishable skill.”
“As a responsible and lawful gun owner, safety is paramount when handling firearms of any kind, but politicians and officials in Washington D.C. should not be in the business of determining which ammunition I train with,” he said.
“It is disconcerting to know that the federal government wants to keep ammunition out of the hands of law abiding civilians.” said the International Defensive Pistol Association member. IDPA is a shooting sport that teaches members how to effectively respond in self defense scenarios and real life encounters.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who has been in office since 2009, is funded by congress without accountability and oversight, DeJesus said. “Napolitano has a standing open order for more ammunition, but no one knows why.”
“If DHS can have ammunition, why can’t we?” he asked.
The National Rifle Association member said it is no shock that officials are attempting to subvert the sale of ammunition. “A gun is just a paper weight without an ammunition supply.”
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