Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) is warning that President Biden is attempting to bypass Congress and “ban legal and highly popular commercial ammunition.”
Hartzler, joined by Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), issued a press release Monday noting that Biden is weighing the implementation of a ban on “commercial production of certain types of 5.56 caliber ammunition at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Missouri.”
The Reps. explained that the U.S. Army has long allowed Lake City Army Ammunition Plant to “produce 5.56 caliber ammunition for commercial sales that exceeds U.S. military needs.”
They point out, “Having the ability to produce this product for commercial sale allows the contractor to maintain capacity and keep the facility at a high state of readiness, at no cost to the government. This ensures the Army is ready to ramp up production in the event of a national emergency. Lake City currently produces a significant portion of this type of 5.56 ammunition for the commercial market.”
But Biden is weighing a ban on the commercial production.
Hartzler slammed the idea of a ban, saying, “The Biden administration has made their priorities clear: dismantle the Second Amendment, compromise military readiness, and push inflation to new heights. It’s time for the Biden Administration to stop its attack on our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”
Graves added, “This underhanded attack on the highly skilled union workers of Lake City is disgraceful, it threatens to severely degrade our ability to produce ammunition for our military, and it undermines the right of law-abiding Americans to fully exercise their Second Amendment rights. This has to stop.”
The press release contains a link to a letter signed by Hartzler, Graves, and 46 other Republican representatives, all of whom are calling on Biden to forgo any shutdown of Lake City’s commercial ammunition production.
The letter concludes: “We urge you to immediately end consideration of this action, which we view as a backdoor attempt to bypass Congress and ban legal and highly popular commercial ammunition and certain semi-automatic rifles used by law-abiding Americans across the country.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.