Ammo ban scrapped: ATF backs down.

• Author: Doherty, Brian
• Position: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, M855 ammunition - Citings - Brief article

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tried this year to impose a regulatory ban on a very common AR-15 rifle ammo: M855, known as "green tip." The agency claimed it was merely ending a previous exception to a general ban on "armor piercing" ammunition.The green tip bullets were previously allowed on the grounds that they have a legitimate "sporting purpose," but the ATF claimed a new class of handguns could accept the ammo as well; since such ammo in handguns has been prohibited since 1986, it concluded, the M855 should be banned.

Yet ATF's own statutory definition of "armor piercing" excludes the M855, since its core is lead.The statute defines the banned category as made "from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass...