Threat to Ammunition Availability Action Needed
A release from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, received via email:
As demand for ammunition continues to outpace supply, it is critically important that an amendment authored by Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) to a seemingly obscure hazardous material bill (HR 4016) be attached to the legislation during consideration on the House floor. When the bill passed out of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Graves secured a commitment from Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to allow a vote on this amendment. The amendment being pushed by Graves will help protect the shipment of materials necessary for the manufacturing of ammunition. Without the Graves Amendment, the rate of production will slip, perhaps precipitously. In-turn, decreased production of ammunition will lead to decreased availability. This will lead to an increase in ammunition prices directly affecting consumers. Given the current high demand for ammunition, passage of the Graves Amendment should be considered critical to gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Floor action on the bill is anticipated within the next three weeks.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry is encouraging all hunters and sportsmen to contact Rep. Oberstar and urge him to support the Graves Amendment. Chairman Oberstar intends to bring HR 4016 to the floor prior to the end of the session (most likely between Dec. 8 and 22), so time is of the essence.
Congressman Oberstar can be reached at: (202) 225-6211
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:15 am
So, as a practitioner of logistics what part of the bill are they worried about exactly? I didnt parse the whole thing, but from what I can see it covers lithium batteries and pipeline transport of bulk hazardous liquids (90% of petro products are transported by pipeline at some point) and renewing a permitting process.
There already is a permit process for the transport of hazardous material, it was passed back in 1975. Im not saying that the Dems arent capable of backdoor regulation through stupidity or malice by striking an ‘and’, but I would like a better explanation before I make a fuss about it.
December 2nd, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I left a message for Congressman Graves’ aide on this issue; hopefully s/he will call me back to give some more details about what exactly the amendment does.
December 2nd, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Actually, Sebastian has this paragraph that explains things pretty well:
“The essential weakness with this bill is that it does not outline clear standards for DOT to measure the suitability of manufacturers to ship hazardous materials. Representative Graves amendment will force DOT to establish clear standards through the rule making process, which allows for public comment and input from affected parties, including ammunition manufacturers, and should help prevent arbitrary decision making on the part of the Department of Transportation that could essentially cause ammunition manufacturing to grind to a halt.”
http://www.snowflakesinhell.com/2009/12/01/nssf-alerts-on-transportation-proposal/