Judge throws out ban on online ammo sales

[IDemo]

Source: msnbc

Posted: Tuesday, January 25 2011 at 06:00 am CT by Bob Sullivan

Gun rights supporters won a major legal victory last week when a California judge struck down as unconstitutional a law that they say would have effectively banned online sales of handgun ammunition just days before it was to have taken effect.

Given the sheer size of the California market, the law would have had a major impact on national online ammunition sales, and some online ammo sites had already suspended sales to California.

While gun rights advocates cheered the decision, which came amid heightened focus on gun control issues in the wake of the Arizona shooting spree, supporters of the law say ammo sales are dangerously unregulated. And they say they have evidence that millions of rounds of ammunition are illegally sold to convicted felons every year.

The California Handgun Ammunition Registration Bill was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October 2009 and would have taken effect on Feb. 1. The law would have required that all ammunition sales in California involve a face-to-face transaction and fingerprint registration of the purchasers. Gun owners who wished to use online sites or catalogs would have been forced to have their ammunition shipped to a local gun dealer so the transaction could be performed in person, a requirement that opponents say would have effectively ended online sales.

Read more: http://redtape.msnbc.com/2011/01/online-ammunition-sales-to-continue-for-now.html

[DrDan]

1. on-line ammo sales - what a great idea. What could possibly go wrong.

:sarcasm:

[DissedByBush]

3. The ATF probably owns several of those outlets

And every once in a while they ship armor-piercing pistol ammo to a customer who didn't order it, and have ATF agents ready to arrest him when UPS delivers.

[michreject]

13. Have a link to this action

Sounds like BS to me.

[DissedByBush]

23. It's a joke

But, knowing the ATF, one that may actually be true.

I don't think they'll be telling us little people if they actually do this.

We'll have to wait for WikiLeaks.

[michreject]

24. I wouldn't put it past them

Especially with the new director.

[Sal Minella]

4. . . . and no records should be kept of the sales (invasion of privacy) n/t

[badtoworse]

7. Why should it be otherwise?

I've been buying ammo for 40 years (in brick and mortar stores) and have never had a record made or kept of my purchases. Why should online be any different?

[Sal Minella]

14. Of course. Why do anything that would help keep pissed-off

alienated 14-year-olds from mail-ordering dozens of cartons of ammunition for daddy's guns?

[badtoworse]

15. Daddy's guns should be properly stored along with his credit cards

If the kids can get unsupervised access to firearms, there is a problem regardless of how the ammo is purchased.

[Sal Minella]

16. Guns with no ammo in them don't kill people, but nevermind. n/t

[badtoworse]

17. Guns with no ammo are useless. What's your point?

[Sal Minella]

18. My point is (I will speak slowly and distinctly) that the pissed-off

kid can ORDER AMMO ON-LINE and make daddy's guns very useful for his own demented purposes.

[badtoworse]

19. Not if he can't get access to them.

If daddy's leaving his guns lying around, what makes you think his ammo is any more secure? The situation you are describing is a grossly negligent parent and banning online ammo sales isn't going to fix it.

[Sal Minella]

21. Your faith in the ideal gun-owning parent is inspiring.

Truly.

The father may not be able to afford a gun safe, and may feel that having his ammo securely locked away is all that needs to be done.

[badtoworse]

22. That's quite a few if's

IF we had a pissed off kid, and IF daddy owns a firearm, and IF daddy locks up his ammo, but leaves his gun accessible, and IF junior get his hands on daddy's credit card, we would have a problem IF junior decided to purchase ammo from an online source. Does that summarize your concern? Do you honestly believe this is likely enough to warrant banning online ammo sales?

Personally, I think there is a point at which you have to rely on people to act responsibly. We'll have to disagree on where it is.

[REP]

26. Not to mention an adult has to sign for ammo shipments

So Bratly has to steal Daddy's credit card, place the order and get an adult to sign for the shipment.

[Tunkamerica]

28. my dad had his dad's guns in the house with no ammo

of course I grew a brain right during the infancy of online sales of ammo and never had a death wish, but I'm sure he never thought there was any danger since there was no ammo. Several shotguns and a handgun were available with no ammo. Had I been demented I might have tried to score some ammo.

[beevul]

27. I think, if you look...

I think, if you look, you'll find that identification is required for online ammunition purchases.

[Mojorabbit]

25. Most everyone we know

makes their own ammo.

[DrDan]

10. of course not - how could that info be on any importance

[baldguy]

2. Why not just hand out an AR-15 to every Jared Loughner-wannabe in the country?

Guns have more rights than human beings.

[Statistical]

5. Guns have no rights, no more than TV have rights or ballot boxes have right. n/t

[aikoaiko]

9. Judging from your post it appears you do not know the difference between ammunition and firearms.

We're talking about ammunition sales -- not firearms.

[The Straight Story]

6. Good - I am tired of the fear peddlers "watch out for muslims", "gun owners are all killers"

Etc and so on - who benefits the most from gettting us all to be afraid of each other and see each other as the enemy? Govt and their string holders.

I am tired of hearing everyone and their brother is out to get me and unless uncle sam swoops in I am going to be killed by x/y/z.

[DrDan]

11. that's really pretty funny

calling the gun control advocates paranoid. Not us who need guns to get through life.

[The Straight Story]

12. Don't need one, I don't own one. Gun control folks are worried everyone is out to shoot them

I would call that more paranoid than saying 'I live in a high crime area and want a gun to protect my house and family' - because I do live in a high crime area and the cops don't do jack and only show up after the fact.

Maybe you like only those trusted people in power - cops, military, bush, cheyney, etc - to own guns because you think all the rest of your fellow citizens are nuts and need controled. Me, I tend not to buy the fear hype people peddle in order to control others.

[aikoaiko]

8. Good, I don't see Californians being any less trustworthy than the rest of the nation.

[slackmaster]

20. Good. It was a dumb law that would have cost the state many millions in sales tax revenue

A pointless exercise in hassling lawful gun owners.

I often go through 400-500 rounds of a single pistol caliber in an afternoon teaching session.