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Wednesday, March 4, 2015
ENP STAFF REPORTS
news@eastniagarapost.com
Niagara County lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday opposing planned “executive actions” that would outlaw one of the most commonly-used rifle bullets.
Republican and Democrat county lawmakers, led by Legislator John Syracuse, R-Newfane, passed the resolution placing Niagara County squarely against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ proposed regulations that would outlaw a popular .223-calibre (5.56 mm) bullet used in what are commonly referred to as “varmint rifles.”
County lawmakers took the rare step of encouraging Niagara County’s Congressional delegation to take any and all necessary steps to prevent the bullet ban from moving forward, ranging from legislation to block the proposed regulations to outright defunding of the ATF. Rarer still, the measure passed 15-0, with every single legislator joining as a sponsor. The resolution makes Niagara County one of the very first local governments in the country to go on the record against the proposed bullet ban.
“It was good to find common ground on this issue on both sides of the aisle,” Syracuse said, noting he had spoken at length with Minority Leader Dennis Virtuoso, D-Niagara Falls, Saturday after gaining the backing of his fellow Republicans to proceed with the resolution. “There shouldn’t be disagreement when the issue before us is Constitutional rights, and I’m grateful to my colleagues of both parties for taking this stand.”
The proposed ATF rule change would regulate and ban the M855 bullet, a popular and widely-available rifle round used by everyone from police to hunters. The 5.56mm ammunition is a caliber used on popular bolt-action and auto-loading sport rifles used for target practice and controlling pests that threaten livestock, the aforementioned “varmints” that give the rifles their descriptive name.
“This whole issue is an affront because it is an attempt by the Obama Administration to bypass our elected representatives,” Majority Leader Rick Updegrove, R-Lockport, who drafted the resolution with Syracuse, said. “Instead, unelected bureaucrats at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sought to change the rule without any real public debate. That’s not what our system is supposed to be about.”
Updegrove noted that Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was leading Congressional pushback on the proposed bullet ban, and had issued a letter to the ATF condemning the move.
“Rep. Goodlatte called this ban ‘preposterous’ today, and he’s right,” Updegrove said.
Syracuse said the new regulations arose out of the failure of President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to gain traction in Congress to pass gun-control legislation that outlawed various firearms, and amounted to an effort to render such rifles useless instead.
“This is nothing more than a backdoor to gun control,” Syracuse said. “The president and his minions are attempting to reclassify varmint rifle ammunition as armor-piercing handgun bullets.”
“The American people have always been free to buy and sell firearms. They have never been required to provide justification—although, if you asked most, they either do it to protect themselves, their families, and their homes, or they do it to feed themselves and their families,” Legislator Keith McNall, R-Lockport, said. “The people walking into Johnson’s Country Store and buying boxes of M855 ammunition, they’re not hardened criminals. They’re hunters, mostly. And target shooters. They’re people who break clay pigeons at the Tonawandas Sportsmen’s Club, not gang members.”
news@eastniagarapost.com
Niagara County lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday opposing planned “executive actions” that would outlaw one of the most commonly-used rifle bullets.
Republican and Democrat county lawmakers, led by Legislator John Syracuse, R-Newfane, passed the resolution placing Niagara County squarely against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ proposed regulations that would outlaw a popular .223-calibre (5.56 mm) bullet used in what are commonly referred to as “varmint rifles.”
County lawmakers took the rare step of encouraging Niagara County’s Congressional delegation to take any and all necessary steps to prevent the bullet ban from moving forward, ranging from legislation to block the proposed regulations to outright defunding of the ATF. Rarer still, the measure passed 15-0, with every single legislator joining as a sponsor. The resolution makes Niagara County one of the very first local governments in the country to go on the record against the proposed bullet ban.
“It was good to find common ground on this issue on both sides of the aisle,” Syracuse said, noting he had spoken at length with Minority Leader Dennis Virtuoso, D-Niagara Falls, Saturday after gaining the backing of his fellow Republicans to proceed with the resolution. “There shouldn’t be disagreement when the issue before us is Constitutional rights, and I’m grateful to my colleagues of both parties for taking this stand.”
The proposed ATF rule change would regulate and ban the M855 bullet, a popular and widely-available rifle round used by everyone from police to hunters. The 5.56mm ammunition is a caliber used on popular bolt-action and auto-loading sport rifles used for target practice and controlling pests that threaten livestock, the aforementioned “varmints” that give the rifles their descriptive name.
“This whole issue is an affront because it is an attempt by the Obama Administration to bypass our elected representatives,” Majority Leader Rick Updegrove, R-Lockport, who drafted the resolution with Syracuse, said. “Instead, unelected bureaucrats at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sought to change the rule without any real public debate. That’s not what our system is supposed to be about.”
Updegrove noted that Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was leading Congressional pushback on the proposed bullet ban, and had issued a letter to the ATF condemning the move.
“Rep. Goodlatte called this ban ‘preposterous’ today, and he’s right,” Updegrove said.
Syracuse said the new regulations arose out of the failure of President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to gain traction in Congress to pass gun-control legislation that outlawed various firearms, and amounted to an effort to render such rifles useless instead.
“This is nothing more than a backdoor to gun control,” Syracuse said. “The president and his minions are attempting to reclassify varmint rifle ammunition as armor-piercing handgun bullets.”
“The American people have always been free to buy and sell firearms. They have never been required to provide justification—although, if you asked most, they either do it to protect themselves, their families, and their homes, or they do it to feed themselves and their families,” Legislator Keith McNall, R-Lockport, said. “The people walking into Johnson’s Country Store and buying boxes of M855 ammunition, they’re not hardened criminals. They’re hunters, mostly. And target shooters. They’re people who break clay pigeons at the Tonawandas Sportsmen’s Club, not gang members.”
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