I just popped over to Google News to read the trending headlines and caught this gem on the 'Recent' sidebar...
FOX News: ATF Shelves Controversial Bullet Ban Proposal
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is shelving a controversial proposal to ban a popular type of bullet, amid opposition from hundreds of congressional lawmakers.
The ATF said in a statement on Tuesday it would not seek to issue the final guidelines "at this time."
Ah, say the FOX viewers - my Republican Congressman is doing their job and fighting the terrible ATF.
What's the reality, though? Follow below the Squiggly of Truth to find out.
First, for those who haven't yet seen the news, the ATF announced back in February that, after three years of deliberation and input from all sides, they were revoking the "sporting" exemption for steel core M855/SS109 (AR-15) "green tip" ammunition and issuing clear guidelines for the issuance of future exemptions. The ammunition in question falls under the definition of armor piercing rounds as defined in the 1986 Law Enforcement Officer Protection Act (LEOPA). The revocation was based on the relatively new availability of handguns that take AR-15 ammunition - guns not available when the exemption was granted back in 1986.
Because of ambiguities in the announcement, and because of some pretty extreme fear-mongering and lie-spreading from some gun rights absolutists, a great hubbub has sprung up from the announcement. (See Snopes for an example of the lies: Ammo Ban - many of the right wing sites have since cleaned things up a bit to use the words "Executive Action" rather than "Executive Order".)
Now on to today's FOX News misdirection...
Amidst the furor surrounding the bullet ban, someone chanced to look back at the January 2015 guidelines issued by the ATF - the one issued directly prior to the February announcement - and, lo and behold, the exemption notice wasn't in the filing. Apparently this is a common failing of the ATF, but some people took it to be a "no comment revocation", while others took it as a(n apparently unnoticed) telegraphing of the agency's intent.
Yesterday, the ATF announced that the failure to include the exemption in the January 2015 guide (which was apparently never officially finalized) was not in fact a revocation of the exemption - that, in fact, ammo designated M855 or SS109 that fell under the exemption was still legal until the comment and review process was completed.
To FOX, this was a great victory against the tyrannical Obama Administration. In reality, it was a great big nothingburger.