OSHA takes on ammo makers
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the government agency charged with assuring the safety and health of America’s workers, is proposing a regulatory rule affecting the manufacturing, transportation and storage of small arms ammunition, primers and smokeless propellants.
As written, the proposed rule would force the closure of nearly all ammunition manufacturers and force the cost of small arms ammunition to skyrocket beyond what the market could bear—essentially collapsing our industry. This is not an exaggeration. The cost to comply with the proposed rule for the ammunition industry, including manufacturer, wholesale distributors and retailers, will be massive and easily exceed $100 million. For example, ammunition and smokeless propellant manufacturers would have to shut down and evacuate a factory when a thunderstorm approached and customers would not be allowed within 50 feet of any ammunition (displayed or otherwise stored) without first being searched for matches or lighters.
July 4th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Based on the industry’s past safety record, how many deaths and injuries due to factory mishaps would this prevent? Damn near none, I would wager.
July 4th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Except due to wartime sabotage, I’ve heard have practically zero munitions accidents over many years. As far as I am aware, those factories already take great precautions to avoid blowing themselves up. They wouldn’t function for very long if they were constantly damaging their equipment and injuring their workers. Most of the danger of loading ammo is in powder measuring and primer seating mistakes, not the physical activity of handling the components. What would most reduce deaths is slightly better QA in the bargain ammo manufacturers.
All this will do is force ammunition manufacturing across the border. Come to think of it, most ammo manufacturing takes place overseas already. Why would we want to cripple the national defense like this? Do these twits realize that the US military gets its ammo from manufacturers who have to obey OSHA rules?
July 4th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
I just realized that this probably isn’t obvious to most people, but loaded ammo and most ammo components are pretty stable. Besides piles of primers and gunpowder, there really isn’t much danger of accidentally setting off explosions in a munitions factory. Think of how hot a machine gun has to get before it starts cooking off rounds.
July 4th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
I thought congress specifically prohibited OSHA having jurisdiction over firearms,ammunition and ammunition components when it was set up.
July 4th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Great, OSHA wants to get into the gun control game, as if we didn’t get it enough from BATF goons.
I personally, pray and hope, this will be shot down by some committee with half a brain. If not the ramifactions can be wide spread and just not for the general public. But, yes for the military and LEO’s
July 5th, 2007 at 8:13 am
I’ve said many times that when they get serious about taking away our 2A rights, they won’t go after the guns – they’ll go after the ammo.
July 5th, 2007 at 10:00 am
I was pondering this yesterday, as I walked through the fireworks tent….
July 5th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
This means that pretty much every customer entering Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse, etc, would have to be searched. Walmart almost certainly would stop selling ammo, if not guns, rather than subject every customer to a search on the chance they might come within 50 feet of the sporting goods department.
And it would pretty much put gunstores out of business, because how many gunnies do you know who would consent to a search just to enter a store?
July 5th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Oh, and Lake City wouldn’t be exempt from the proposed regs, either, and given the weather in the Show Me State, probably means it would have to shut down at least once a week during the spring and summer.
Oh, and LC already can’t keep up with the military’s demand for ammo, thus why we’re buying bullets from Winchester and IMI.
July 6th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
HL: Heck, around here everyplace except Walmart that sells guns or ammo isn’t 50 feet across.
July 7th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Sounds to me like this is simply another attempt at gun control by making it financially difficult to obtain ammunition. A GUN BAN ATTEMPT.
July 8th, 2007 at 9:38 am
I have lived and travelled in many countries 1000 tiems more restrictive that ours , concerning individual freedoms, especially 2 A
freedoms, We need to be thankfull for what we have , and protect this precious right, because indeed it is precious .
July 9th, 2007 at 10:19 am
About 40 years ago one of New Jersey’s largest sporting goods stores, Ray’s Sporting Goods, then located in Scotch Plains, caught fire. The large fire was marked by several explosions and afterwards the was big bruhaha about the amount of ammunition and powder stored there and its possible danger to firefighters in future fires. Well following an in depth examination after the fire it was determined that the large explosions were cause by pressurized scuba tanks and that the ammunition, powder and primers merely burned. there have been remarkably very few fires involving ammunition in the U.S. There was the the Lake Danmark fire and explosion of 1926 (also in NJ and that involved thousands of tons of powder.) So I would like like know just where OSHA is getting its information.
July 11th, 2007 at 9:36 am
[…] wants to regulate ammo manufacturing to the point where, well, it’d just be hard to make ammo. OSHA has extended the comment […]
July 11th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
This is just another effort OSHA to further regulate and in effect limit access to ammunition, thereby negating the 2nd amendment.
“We’re from the goverment and we’re here to help you.”