Todd M. Siebert: Former Clinton bureaucrat: Take the bullets, not the guns

Friday, 8 January 2016

Former Clinton bureaucrat: Take the bullets, not the guns

Obama may not be able to take Americans’ guns via executive orders; but with the help of Washington bureaucrats, he could make it impossible to get ammunition.

That’s according to Ann Brown, the two-term chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission under the Clinton administration.

In a column for The Washington Post, Brown argues that the Consumer Product Safety Commission should be in the business of regulating bullets in the U.S. because of the lead they contain.

“Why wouldn’t Congress allow us authority over another dangerous consumer product often made of lead,” she writes.

Brown believes that ramping up bullet regulations would be easier for the president than other gun control projects because ammunition isn’t specifically mentioned in the 2^nd Amendment.

“[A]mmunition limits are clearly not prohibited by the Second Amendment. Some communities and states around the country — Sacramento, Los Angeles and Connecticut, for example — already regulate bullets,” she writes.

According to Brown, her former agency is best positioned to lead and implement a federal propaganda campaign to limit bullet sales.

She writes: “Under Republican and Democratic presidents, the commission has worked with manufacturers to create flexible guidelines for all kinds of hazardous products. It didn’t ban cribs, walkers, toasters — or paint. It worked out ways to address what made them dangerous — and saved children in the process.

“The same flexible approach can work with ammunition. When someone who may be dangerous is prevented from buying ammunition, any gun he has hidden becomes like a car without gas: a useless hunk of metal.”

The first step for Obama, she says, is forcing Congress to fund studies for bullet ban research.

Then, she says, Washington’s bureaucrats could start formulating plans to make bullets harder to get.

“There are many ways to move ahead. We could license ammunition purchases like drivers, ban online purchases and mandate background checks for buyers,” she writes.

This isn’t the first time such a proposal has come up, and it won’t be the last — especially if the next president is also a relic of the Clinton administration.

“Lawmaker: ‘Developments in bullet propellants, coatings and materials’ make bullet bans necessary”

“House passes sportsman-friendly bill”

“ATF seeks to reclassify commonly used round as ‘armor piercing’ ammo in order to ban it”

“Court rules against EPA in lead bullet case”

“Democrats plan full-force gun, ammo grab after ATF embarrassment”

“Greens want lead out of ammo”

“ATF’s ammo ban a slippery slope to useless guns”

“Democratic legislation targets ammo purchasers”

“New bill aims to stop ammo grab in its tracks”

“Video: California cop finds private sale of ammo between citizens ‘bizarre’ and ‘illegal’”

“White House claims populist support of ammo ban as critics warn of intensifying assault on the 2nd Amendment”

The post Former Clinton bureaucrat: Take the bullets, not the guns appeared first on Personal Liberty®.