SECTION 4.
(a) All handgun and assault weapon ammunition manufactured or sold in thestate after January 1, 2009, shall be coded by the manufacturer.
(b) No later than January 1, 2011, all non-coded ammunition for the calibers
listed in this act, whether owned by private citizens or retail outlets, shall be disposed.
Tyrant wannabes in the Tennessee legislature are going for an ammo grab, in this case, Memphis Mandarins Reginald Tate and Larry Miller.
Here are the links for SENATE BILL 3395 and its counterpart, HOUSE BILL 3245. You can track status of the bills here.
They want to require etching "identifiers" on "the base of the bullet projectile"--and note it says "all," so .22 ammo sold in blocks is evidently not exempt. Then note requirements for a manufacturer's registry, a vendor's registry, mandates for investigations by the TBI, and staffing and maintaining a database--nothing that will stop one violent criminal from using noncompliant ammunition in a stolen firearm...
Can you imagine a more foolish squandering of financial resources at a time when Tennesseans are struggling to keep their jobs and their houses, or law enforcement resources when they can't prevent crime already without sidelining personnel on this nonsense?
Oh but that's OK, because there's "No fiscal note for the bill!"
That's because the overlords envision an "end user fee":
SECTION 7.
(a) The cost of establishing and maintaining the ACSD shall be funded by an end-user fee. Vendors shall charge an additional one half cent ($.005) per bullet or round of ammunition to the purchaser.
(b) There is established the coded ammunition fund for deposit of the end-user fees described in this section. Moneys in the fund, upon appropriation, shall be available to the TBI for infrastructure, implementation, operational, enforcement, and future development costs of this act.
And, of course, if half a cent is good, why in a few years, a whole cent will be even better! Besides, costs are going up and gun owners are outnumbered and generally despised by our urban constituencies--why not go for even more?
I wonder how many ammunition makers are going to just pull up stakes? And the "All" caveat seems to rule out handloading, or at least I don't see an exemption that states for certain at what threshold of production a self-producer becomes a "manufacturer"...
I also don't see any provisions for out-of-state "sportsmen" bringing tourist dollars in to hunt and shoot. I suppose setting up traps for them can also be a good source of revenue...
Question for all you "law abiding" Tennessee gun owners, the only people this bill will affect (that is, the ones not responsible for the problems): When they order you to surrender your non compliant ammo a little under three years from now, are you going to give it to them?
I don't know the chances this abomination has of passing--but I do know Tennessee is the state that inflicted Al Gore on the rest of us, and the urban representation seems just as unabashedly Marxist as anywhere else. Were I a Tennessean, I'd be on the horn to my representative at opening of business tomorrow morning, and I'd follow that up with a letter and an email.
[Via Stewart Rhodes]
Surrender your ammo?
ReplyDeleteI have to resist writing the method that came to mind. Hint: Brass, powder or primer not included.
Yep, we see this bill spreading all over.
ReplyDeleteWe always ask, what is "assault weapon ammo" and how does it differ from other types of rifle ammo?
The answer is they hope the Fudds won't notice that their "hunting ammo" will be affected.
Yeah, this is getting popular--here in IL, they're not content with introducing one, two, or even three such bills, but are trying to inflict four of them on us.
ReplyDeleteWe're even seeing an attempt in Mississippi, where one of the cosponsors is newly elected Senator Eric Powell, who campaigned on a platform that included "Second Amendment rights".
Also from Senator Powell's website:
ReplyDeleteWill lead the opposition to any move in the legislature to undermine our Second Amendment rights.
To where, I wonder, is he "lead[ing] the opposition"--off a cliff?
Four Senators co-sponsored a bill in MS that is along the same lines, but it doesn't exclude any type ammunition. It's everything. And by 2010, we're supposed to "dispose" of all "unencoded" ammo.
ReplyDeleteUmm..
No.
That would also make reloading illegal, wouldn't it?
ReplyDeletebobg--I wrote this in the post:
ReplyDeleteAnd the "All" caveat seems to rule out handloading, or at least I don't see an exemption that states for certain at what threshold of production a self-producer becomes a "manufacturer"...
Are the Only Ones thinking they are going to be exempt from these bullet grabs?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the training budget going to be when you throw in another half cent per round increase in price?
The Only Ones had better sit up and take notice that they will have a lot less bang for the buck. Manufacturers are NOT going to be eager to give discounts for this ammo and most will probably just cease to sell in states that adopt this idiotic use of taxpayer time and money.
(c) Any person who knowingly destroys, obliterates, or otherwise renders unreadable, the serialization required pursuant to this act, on any bullet or assembled ammunition commits a Class A misdemeanor.
ReplyDeletehmmm, sounds like anyone shooting a steel plate would be guilty… in fact every round fired at a range would fall into this area… not to mention the fact that firing around can deform it… and what about ammunition that breaks apart? i mean i “knowingly” fired the round, so im guilty
At risk of becoming tiresome in belaboring Senator Eric Powell's co-sponsorship of the Mississippi ammunition coding bill check out the middle endorsement here.
ReplyDeleteI think former Tennessee congressman and Hero of the Alamo said it best: "You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas." I would place the emphasis on the "You may all go to Hell" part.
ReplyDelete