Bman505
09-25-2009, 09:58 AM
Arms suppliers rushing to meet record demand
Published: Thursday, September 24, 2009 12:08 PM CDT
A measure of the hysteria that has gripped our nation is the report that ammunition factories are working overtime and still can’t satisfy the public demand for bullets.
“We’ve had to add a fourth shift and go 24-7,” a Remington Arms spokesman said. “It’s a phenomenon that I have not seen before in my 30 years in the business.”
A California manufacturer said about the same: “We’ve been in business for 32 years, and I’ve been here for 10 and we’ve never seen anything like it.”
It’s something akin to the New Year’s Day 2000 mania when a lot of people stocked up on basic supplies for fear the world’s computers would all go haywire.
The fear, apparently, is that the Obama administration will impose sweeping new gun control laws that could include a limit on ammunition purchases.
The manager of a Louisiana gun shop said as much: “It always happens when the Democrats get in office. It happened with Clinton, and Obama is even stronger for gun control. Ammunition will be the first step, so I’m stocking up while I can.”
Yet no gun or ammunition control legislation has been proposed. In fact, Obama last month signed a bill to allow loaded guns in national parks.
A corollary to the rush to buy bullets is the little-noticed action by the Tennessee legislature to exempt firearms made and sold within the state from federal gun laws and regulations, a measure that appears to defy Supreme Court rulings.
When federal law and state law conflict, the federal law prevails. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has warned Tennessee weapons dealers to ignore the state law.
The state law’s Senate sponsor, arch conservative Mae Beavers of Mt. Juliet, said it’s a state’s right issue: “An effort by the federal government to regulate intrastate commerce under the guise of powers implied by the interstate commerce clause could only result in encroachment of the state’s power to regulate commerce within its borders.”
The Tennessee Firearms Association’s Web site is blunter: “The ATF — as expected — has issued a letter in which it disregards the 10th Amendment restrictions on federal power (as seems to be the trend since the late 1030s) …. We expected such from a tyranny that no longer lives within the bounds of its express authority.”
Don’t look at us, the ATF responded. Look to the Supreme Court, which repeatedly has upheld federal gun laws.
“The ATF hasn’t ruled this, the Supreme Court has, and we’re a law enforcement agency,” the Nashville agent in charge said.
“It’s analogous to a speed limit. If the speed limit on the Interstate is 70, a city can’t come along and say there is no speed limit on the Interstate through our city.”
More on this story,
http://www.parispi.net/articles/2009/09/25/opinion/editorials/doc4abba51a94222333535749.txt
Published: Thursday, September 24, 2009 12:08 PM CDT
A measure of the hysteria that has gripped our nation is the report that ammunition factories are working overtime and still can’t satisfy the public demand for bullets.
“We’ve had to add a fourth shift and go 24-7,” a Remington Arms spokesman said. “It’s a phenomenon that I have not seen before in my 30 years in the business.”
A California manufacturer said about the same: “We’ve been in business for 32 years, and I’ve been here for 10 and we’ve never seen anything like it.”
It’s something akin to the New Year’s Day 2000 mania when a lot of people stocked up on basic supplies for fear the world’s computers would all go haywire.
The fear, apparently, is that the Obama administration will impose sweeping new gun control laws that could include a limit on ammunition purchases.
The manager of a Louisiana gun shop said as much: “It always happens when the Democrats get in office. It happened with Clinton, and Obama is even stronger for gun control. Ammunition will be the first step, so I’m stocking up while I can.”
Yet no gun or ammunition control legislation has been proposed. In fact, Obama last month signed a bill to allow loaded guns in national parks.
A corollary to the rush to buy bullets is the little-noticed action by the Tennessee legislature to exempt firearms made and sold within the state from federal gun laws and regulations, a measure that appears to defy Supreme Court rulings.
When federal law and state law conflict, the federal law prevails. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has warned Tennessee weapons dealers to ignore the state law.
The state law’s Senate sponsor, arch conservative Mae Beavers of Mt. Juliet, said it’s a state’s right issue: “An effort by the federal government to regulate intrastate commerce under the guise of powers implied by the interstate commerce clause could only result in encroachment of the state’s power to regulate commerce within its borders.”
The Tennessee Firearms Association’s Web site is blunter: “The ATF — as expected — has issued a letter in which it disregards the 10th Amendment restrictions on federal power (as seems to be the trend since the late 1030s) …. We expected such from a tyranny that no longer lives within the bounds of its express authority.”
Don’t look at us, the ATF responded. Look to the Supreme Court, which repeatedly has upheld federal gun laws.
“The ATF hasn’t ruled this, the Supreme Court has, and we’re a law enforcement agency,” the Nashville agent in charge said.
“It’s analogous to a speed limit. If the speed limit on the Interstate is 70, a city can’t come along and say there is no speed limit on the Interstate through our city.”
http://www.parispi.net/articles/2009/09/25/opinion/editorials/doc4abba51a94222333535749.txt