{"id":4593,"date":"2009-05-21T22:27:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-22T04:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/05\/please-save-some-bullets-for-the-cops\/"},"modified":"2009-08-22T14:46:15","modified_gmt":"2009-08-22T20:46:15","slug":"please-save-some-bullets-for-the-cops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/05\/please-save-some-bullets-for-the-cops\/","title":{"rendered":"Please, save some bullets for the cops"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite what some want us to believe, more gun control is DOA. So don\u2019t hoard bullets to the point that cops don\u2019t have enough to do their jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n

A forwarded e-mail I received Tuesday claimed that the Department of Defense was discontinuing the sale of spent brass — used bullet shell cases — to ammunition manufacturers, which would force the companies to purchase new shells instead and would significantly increase the cost of ammo.<\/p>\n

To top it off, the e-mail stated, \u201cObama wants To add a 500% tax on each shell.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 If you\u2019re not outraged at what this administration is doing you should Be!\u201d the e-mail stated. \u201cBe Afraid! Be Very Afraid!\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that sort of fear mongering that is creating a truly serious situation in the United States right now. Many active participants in the right to bear arms are buying into this hype that has been spreading like wildfire over the Internet since before Barack Obama<\/a> was elected president. As a result, ammo is in short supply across the nation. Some calibers are simply unavailable. And that threatens the ability of law enforcement officers to effectively do their jobs.<\/p>\n

Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White — a Republican and former congressional candidate — recently told the Albuquerque Journal<\/a> that if the shortage continues, he fears his deputies will have to cut back on training to save their bullets in case there\u2019s a serious incident.<\/p>\n

The ammunition for the gun White carries has been on backorder for nearly three months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen it like this in my more than two decades of law enforcement,\u201d White was quoted by the Journal as saying.<\/p>\n

On a hunt for .22 ammo<\/span><\/p>\n

I recently went around Las Cruces searching for .22-caliber bullets. An employee at one Wal-Mart, which sells a box of 500 for less than $14, told me the store gets ammo in regularly, but people are waiting every day when the gun counter opens at 7 a.m. and snatch up the rarities included in the new shipment within minutes. Arrive by 6:30 a.m., because if you\u2019re not first in line, you might not get any, I was told.<\/p>\n

Great. What day should I show up?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t know, the employee said. You\u2019ll just have to come, day after day, until you get lucky.<\/p>\n

An employee at the other Wal Mart gave me the same story.<\/p>\n

Then I checked Big 5, which advertised selling a box of 500 for about $19. No luck. The employee behind that gun counter told me the store hadn\u2019t had .22 ammo for months and doesn\u2019t expect to have any for months.<\/p>\n

One local business had a couple of boxes, but they would cost me almost $35 apiece.<\/p>\n

\u2018There are 65 pro-gun Democrats\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

So what about that e-mail about the military\u2019s spent brass? Does Obama really want to take people\u2019s guns, further regulate their use or raise the cost of ammunition so drastically that shooting is impractical at best?<\/p>\n

Snopes.com<\/a> has the answer. In March, of the DOD did reclassify \u201cthe sale of a broad category of items,\u201d which did \u201ccut off some ammunition manufacturers from their largest supply of brass casings.\u201d But, within a week and following some criticism, the agency resolved the issue by again classifying spent casings so that they could be sold to ammo manufacturers for reuse.<\/p>\n

End of story. It was a stupid bureaucratic issue that was quickly resolved, not a conspiracy to take people\u2019s guns.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that Obama doesn\u2019t favor more gun control. He\u2019s open about his desire to make permanent an assault weapons ban<\/a> that was enacted during the Clinton years and was allowed to sunset during the W presidency. And Obama has done some not-so-bright things, like, as he prepared to take office, ask all potential appointees detailed questions about their gun ownership<\/a> on a personnel form, as if it\u2019s any of his business.<\/p>\n

But Obama\u2019s desires don\u2019t matter. Further restrictions on firearms are not going to happen, at least not any time soon. When Obama\u2019s attorney general mentioned bringing back the assault-weapons ban in February, 65 House Democrats, including New Mexico\u2019s Harry Teague<\/a> and Martin Heinrich<\/a>, signed a letter<\/a> to the AG telling him they won\u2019t support that idea. That means there are enough Democrats who oppose such a proposal to ensure its death.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we know there are 65 pro-gun Democrats,\u201d Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., told The Hill<\/a> at the time. \u201cWhen you add up all the pro-gun Republicans and the pro-gun Democrats, that or any other anti-gun legislation is DOA.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t have the votes\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

It really is that simple. Last month, the Houston Chronicle<\/a> ran an article headlined, \u201cObama heeding lesson from \u201994 gun ban\u201d that begins by recounting that, \u201cThe last time a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress banned civilian sales of military-style assault weapons, it took American voters just seven weeks to rebel. They handed Republicans control of the House and the Senate for the first time in 40 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama, according to the article, recently insisted \u201che had \u2018not backed off\u2019 his campaign promise to make the expired ban permanent. But he bowed to political reality, nonetheless.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us are under any illusion that reinstating that ban would be easy,\u201d the article quoted Obama as saying. \u201cAnd so, what we\u2019ve focused on is how we can improve our enforcement of existing laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Wall Street Journal<\/a>, Obama knew even on the campaign trail last year that he didn\u2019t have the votes for more gun control.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if I want to take them away, I don\u2019t have the votes in Congress,\u2019\u2019 he said at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania in September. \u201cThis can\u2019t be the reason not to vote for me. Can everyone hear me in the back? I see a couple of sportsmen back there. I\u2019m not going to take away your guns.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The moral of the story? These are uncertain times. Stock up on some ammo if you feel the need. But don\u2019t give in to the fear mongering and hoard beyond what\u2019s reasonable. Our law enforcement officers need bullets, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite what some want us to believe, more gun control is DOA. So don\u2019t hoard bullets to the point that cops don\u2019t have enough to do their jobs. A forwarded e-mail I received Tuesday claimed that the Department of Defense was discontinuing the sale of spent brass — used bullet shell cases — to ammunition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haussamen-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}