Government Destroys Once Fired Brass Cases

[darrels joy]

Government Destroys Once Fired Brass Cases

This a selection of email content - presented ''as is''.

From: KTO
To: undisclosed-recipients
Sent: Friday, March 13, 2009 2:31 PM
Subject: [Fwd: More ammo problems - Action Needed]

Dear MSSA Friends,
Another serious problem has just been created to add to the critical ammo shortage in the U.S. Read my letter to Senator Max Baucus about this below. An agency of the Department of Defense has just directed that all military fired brass must be destroyed.
I highly recommend that you send emails to U.S. Senators Baucus and Tester, and to Montana's lone Congressman Rehberg, asking them to get immediately onto fixing this.
FYI, Baucus is Chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. He could simply call the Pentagon and tell them that if they don't reverse this DLA directive that the Pentagon will suffer a mysterious budget cut of several billion dollars. Also, Baucus's former Chief of Staff, Jim Messina, is now Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House. If Max called Jim and asked, Jim could fix this problem with a phone call too.
I recommend you communicate with the Baucus, Tester and Rehberg staffers who are tasked to firearms issues. They are:
Baucus - "Heather O'Loughlin" heather_o'loughlin@baucus.senate.gov
Tester - "Lillstrom, Alpha" Alpha_Lillstrom@tester.senate.gov
Rehberg - "Abra Belke" abra.belke@mail.house.gov
Tell them we simply don't accept the military destroying perfectly good brass that could be sold into the civilian market for private and commercial reloading.
Gary
========================
Max,
Greetings from Missoula.
You called me on October 24th, 2008, to ask me to let you know if there is ever anything MSSA needs you to do for us and for Montana gun owners.
Thank you. This is exactly such a case.
In the email below from the Defense Logistics Agency you will see that DLA has effectively ordered the immediate non-sale and destruction of all once-fired military brass.
Max, this is a HUGE problem.
Why is this a problem? The RKBA is only as good as the ammunition supply for the firearms we own. The shelves of the Nation's sporting goods stores are essentially bare of ammunition. The entire ammunition market in the U.S. is highly stressed.
For example, I have six classes scheduled for April to teach Montana citizens gun safety and self defense with firearms. Students must bring 100 rounds of ammunition to these classes. I thought to check this week about availability of ammunition for my students for these April classes - the most common ammunition in .38 special and 9mm. Of four primary sporting goods stores in Missoula, three had NONE - at all! One store has a limited supply that it doesn't expect to last long.
Against this background of ammunition shortage, about the only ammunition that continues to be somewhat available is that from second tier manufacturers who are remanufacturing ammunition from once-fired military cartridge brass. As of yesterday, that supply came to an end because of the DLA administrative decision to destroy ("demil") all fired military brass.
Max, I have a lot more information about the national ammunition shortage, too much to put in one email. It is both a supply and demand problem. Without that lengthy detail, take my word for it that U.S. gun owners are very at-risk for their effective RKBA because of existing ammunition shortages. This administrative decision by DLA places a log on the back of a camel already sagging in the middle.
We sincerely hope that you can do something to turn DLA around, and reauthorize the flow of once-fired, undestroyed military brass from the military to civilians and civilian entities.
One final thought. The military can sell reloadable brass for $2.00 per pound. Brass that has been destroyed for reloading purposes and value sells for about 35 cents per pound. So the DLA is expecting taxpayers to pay DoD extra to make reloadable brass unavailable to civilian gun owners.
Please keep us informed about what can be done and is being done to fix this serious problem.
Sincerely yours,

Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com



-----Original Message-----
From:
SurplusNews@govliquidation.com

SurplusNews@govliquidation.com
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 5:34 PM
To: rlepage@usa.net
Subject: Important Notice to Scrap Metal Buyers!
http://www.govliquidation.com
Dear Valued Customer:
Please take a moment to note important changes set forth by the Defense Logistics Agency:
Recently it has been determined that fired munitions of all calibers, shapes and sizes have been designated to be Demil code B. As a result and in conjunction with DLA's current Demil code B policy, this notice will serve as official notification which requires Scrap Venture (SV) to implement mutilation as a condition of sale for all sales of fired munitions effective immediately. This notice also requires SV to immediately cease delivery of any fired munitions that have been recently sold or on active term contracts, unless the material has been mutilated prior to sale or SV personnel can attest to the mutilation after delivery. A certificate of destruction is required in either case.

Thank you,
DOD Surplus
15051 N Kierland Blvd # 300
Scottsdale, AZ 85254

http://www.jpfo.org/alerts03/alert20090313.htm

[darrels joy]

Military demands details on soldiers' private guns
Fort Campbell command reversed under pressure

---

Posted: March 21, 2009
12:15 am Eastern



By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

A military commander at Fort Campbell in Kentucky demanded his soldiers give him the registration numbers of any guns they own privately and then reveal where they are stored.

The order was stopped, according to base officials, when it was discovered the commander was not "acting within his authority."

The original order was issued on the letterhead of Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment and said effective March 11, any soldier with a "privately owned weapon" was required to submit the information, along with any information about any concealed carry permit the soldier may have, and what state issued the permit.

Further, the rule warned, "If any soldier comes into possession of a Privately Owned Weapon following the effective date of this memorandum, he is required to inform the Chain of Command of the above information."

One soldier who objected to the demands circulated the memo, commenting that he lives off post.

"It just seems a little coincidental to me that within 90 days the most anti-firearm president in history is inaugurated, some of the nastiest anti-firearm laws are put on the table in Washingtonand then the Army comes around wanting what amounts to a registration on all firearms, even if they are off post, and doesn't provide any reason or purpose as to why," the soldier said.

Base spokeswoman Cathy Gramling told WND the letter apparently was a mistake. She said the base requires anyone bringing a privately owned weapon onto the installation to register it.

"As a response to a number of negligent discharges of privately owned weapons, the command decided to explore how to implement a training program for soldiers with privately owned weapons. Their goal is to identify soldiers with firearms and provide additional safety training to them, much like our motorcycle and driver classes," she said.

"Our soldiers train and operate in combat with M-4 carbines and various other military weapons, but not all who purchase their own weapons are properly trained to handle them. Determining which soldiers possess weapons will allow the command to identify the soldiers who may require additional training on them," she said.

Learn here why it's your right – and duty – to be armed.

Gramling said the memo was "from a subordinate unit commander who, at the time, believed he was acting within his authority." She said requiring the information was halted when it was discovered the commander was not within his authority.

The process has been suspended pending a full review, she said.

"This is not an effort to infringe on soldiers' rights to own firearms," Gramling told WND.

Mistake or not, the commander's order comes on the heels of a Department of Defense policy that limited the supply of ammunition available to the private gun owners by requiring destruction of fired military cartridge brass.

That policy already had been implemented and had taken a bite out of the nation's stressed ammunition supply before it was reversed this week.

Mark Cunningham, a legislative affairs representative with the Defense Logistics Agency, explained in an e-mail to the office of Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., that the Department of Defense had placed small arms cartridge cases on its list of sensitive munitions items as part of an overall effort to ensure national security is not jeopardized in the sale of any Defense property.

"Upon review, the Defense Logistics Agency has determined the cartridge cases could be appropriately placed in a category of government property allowing for their release for sale," Cunningham wrote.

http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=92395

[39mto39g]

"Government Destroys Once Fired Brass Cases"
This is probably not a bad Idea. Although casing's are good for more than one firing, how do you tell if it's the second reload or the 30th reload. Besides "destroy" is not really what happens. The cases are brass and so are sold or melted as brass.
I don't think I would like to fire a round that has been reloaded by the low bid reloader for the 30th time.

Ron

[PHO127]

Phillip and his EOD team had to spend almost two months in a junkyard because the owner had bought several traincar loads of dummy tank ammo and spent casings. Only trouble was that while running the through the shredder they hit a live round and killed two people.

[locksly]

The brass is sold to civilian reloaders that reload them for hunting or target practice. The military buys new brass when they contract out for ammo.
The Anti-Gun and Anti-Hunting Democrats are trying to stop hunters from getting ammo. This is a back door way to make it harder for us o hunt and shoot and a typical senator Fiendstein backed move. Now that the Democrats are in power watch out your rifles are in danger.

[darrels joy]

OBAMA TRYING TO STRIP MILITARY OF PRIVATE WEAPONS
Military demands details on soldiers' private guns

Fort Campbell command reversed under pressure

Posted: March 21, 200912:15 am Eastern
By Bob Unruh© 2009 WorldNetDaily

A military commander at Fort Campbell in Kentucky demanded his soldiers give him the registration numbers of any guns they own privately and then reveal where they are stored.

The order was stopped, according to base officials, when it was discovered the commander was not "acting within his authority."

The original order was issued on the letterhead of Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment and said effective March 11, any soldier with a "privately owned weapon" was required to submit the information, along with any information about any concealed carry permit the soldier may have, and what state issued the permit.

Further, the rule warned, "If any soldier comes into possession of a Privately Owned Weapon following the effective date of this memorandum, he is required to inform the Chain of Command of the above information."

One soldier who objected to the demands circulated the memo, commenting that he lives off post.

"It just seems a little coincidental to me that within 90 days the most anti-firearm president in history is inaugurated, some of the nastiest anti-firearm laws are put on the table in Washington, and then the Army comes around wanting what amounts to a registration on all firearms, even if they are off post, and doesn't provide any reason or purpose as to why," the soldier said.

Base spokeswoman Cathy Gramling told WND the letter apparently was a mistake. She said the base requires anyone bringing a privately owned weapon onto the installation to register it.

"As a response to a number of negligent discharges of privately owned weapons, the command decided to explore how to implement a training program for soldiers with privately owned weapons.

Their goal is to identify soldiers with firearms and provide additional safety training to them, much like our motorcycle and driver safety classes," she said.

"Our soldiers train and operate in combat with M-4 carbines and various other military weapons, but not all who purchase their own weapons are properly trained to handle them. Determining which soldiers possess weapons will allow the command to identify the soldiers who may require additional training on them," she said.

Learn here why it's your right – and duty – to be armed.

Gramling said the memo was "from a subordinate unit commander who, at the time, believed he was acting within his authority." She said requiring the information was halted when it was discovered the commander was not within his authority.

The process has been suspended pending a full review, she said.

"This is not an effort to infringe on soldiers' rights to own firearms," Gramling told WND

[darrels joy]

Mistake or not, the commander's order comes on the heels of a Department of Defense policy that limited the supply of ammunition available to the private gun owners by requiring destruction of fired military cartridge brass.

That policy already had been implemented and had taken a bite out of the nation's stressed ammunition supply before it was reversed this week.

Mark Cunningham, a legislative affairs representative with the Defense Logistics Agency, explained in an e-mail to the office of Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., that the Department of Defense had placed small arms cartridge cases on its list of sensitive munitions items as part of an overall effort to ensure national security is not jeopardized in the sale of any Defense property.

"Upon review, the Defense Logistics Agency has determined the cartridge cases could be appropriately placed in a category of government property allowing for their release for sale," Cunningham wrote.
Posted by Alan Peters


http://alanpetersnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2009/03/obama-trying-to-strip-military-of.html

[plazake]

Thanks for the comment bigbird. I couldn’t agree more. A little helpful information never hurt anybody!