DOD Eliminates Sale of Expended Brass

This from Gordon Hutchinson, author of The Great New Orleans Gun Grab:

"From now on, remanufacturers of military brass will not be able to buy surplus brass from DOD--actually from Government Liquidators, llc.--the corporation that sells surplus materials for the U.S. government. At least, not in any form recognizable as once-fired brass ammunition. Now all brass ammunition will have to be shredded, and sold as scrap."

Now, to be clear, I'm not a gun enthusiast in that I don't participate in the sport of shooting. I don't own a gun, as I've said. But that doesn't mean I don't believe in the Second Amendment or the right of people to own guns if they want to.

What Hutchinson is telling us is that if the government can't control the sale of guns, which they have had trouble doing, then they CAN control the sale of ammunition.

Hutchinson explains:

"You can expect this to affect every bullet you purchase in the future--with no reloaded ammunition available, the already strained new manufacturers will be unable to meet demand. They are already turning out everything they can build for the military market. The civilian market is stressed to the point even reloading components have become hard to find.

Now, with this hit, ammunition prices will go through the roof in the next year."

Even if you don't own guns or participate in the sport of target shooting this will affect you because it also affects law enforcement. Who pays for the ammo for law enforcement? Taxpayers, maybe? With this market gone, some smaller law enforcement agencies and individual officers will no longer be able to purchase inexpensive reloaded ammunition for practice. Companies such as Georgia Arms, which Mr. Hutchinson writes about, will go out of business.

Not such good news in this economy. Why would the Obama administration take such action as to put more small businesses out of work in this economy? So they can control guns. One of his agenda items.

In addition to putting people out of work, the cost to the taxpayers is compounded by the fact that it reduces the return by 80% on the sale of expended brass. Now the material will be sold as scrap and sold to China at a much lower return.

The nanny-state business of it is disturbing as well, as the letter received by Larry Haynie of Georgia Arms from the DOD suggests that in addition to being unable to sell him anymore brass, they must also come to his place of business and witness the destruction of his already purchased brass: "The new DRMS requirement calls for DOD Surplus personnel to witness the mutilation of the property and sign the Certificate of Destruction. Mutilation of the property can be done at the DRMO, if permitted by the Government, or it may be mutilated at a site chosen by the buyer."

If you visit Mr. Hutchinson's site, linked above, he has written a letter which you can copy and send to your legislators.

Update: Via Instapundit, here is a post about ammunition shortages in Florida.

Update 2: Jonah Goldberg at NRO has picked up the story.

Update 3: Memeorandum has picked up Gordon Hutchinson's post.