Ammo update and some gut stabing knife news!

The Shooting Wire Friday

FEATURE

Friday June 12, 2009

Various & Sundry

First, an ammo update. Earlier this week, one of our readers sent me a note asking simply “why can’t we get ammunition in Oregon?” I thought it was some sort of a trick question, honestly, because I thought things had improved on the ammunition front.

That opinion wasn’t founded on fact, but the inference from the dozens of emails I receive each week telling me that a distributor or retailer had received a significant shipment of ammo. Apparently, some of those messages were a bit, shall we say, overstated.

In other words, the supply lines are working steadily, but demand is still running well ahead of supply in many popular calibers. So far that if the ammo orders were to stop or drop radically today, it would probably be weeks, if not months, before the manufacturing could catch up.

And it’s not because of arbitrary scheduling or artificially created demand. The manufacturers I’ve spoken with have told me they simply can’t work enough hours to meet the demand for pistol calibers and .308 and .223 rifle cartridges. One official even said spoke of adding a “fourth shift” to their workforce.

In other words, workers have worked so many hours that they’re actually taking days off over overtime, forcing the company to create a “fourth shift” of workers in order to allow their regular workers some time off. It’s also a simple fact that machines require regular maintenance in order to keep working at the feverish pace.

Simply put, the supply line is operating at its maximum capacities, but the demand for everything from .380 to .308 is simply outpacing demand.

That demand is also eating the manufacturing capabilities of reloading components, with basics like primers and shotgun wads in short supply.

Some retailers are also telling me that customers appear to be downsizing their purchases, allowing more shooters to acquire ammo. That’s good news for those of us who don’t ordinarily buy ammunition in 1,000 round lots.

The surprise high-demand ammunition continues to be the .380. Long considered too-small for personal defense, new offerings in the cartridge and the firearms that fit them have changed that opinion. Consequently, they’re selling for as much as a dollar a round in some areas. Others simply still don’t have any.

And it’s not exactly your firearms under attack this time, but a decision from the feds at Customs and Border Protection has knife owners more than a little on edge. On May 21, CBP proposed revoking earlier rulings that said assisted-opening knives were not switchblades. That sounds innocent enough, but the proposal is so broadly based as to make virtually any one-hand opening or assisted opening knife a switchblade, even simple slip joints.

Today, just to give you an idea of the potential impact of such a ruling, eighty percent of U.S. knife sales would fall under the new CBP reclassification. Not good.

Also not good was the method CBP used to insert their proposal into regular notices, almost as if they hoped no one would notice and the 30-day comment period would expire.

People noticed. Our friend Doug Ritter, founder of KnifeRights.org, for one.

When Ritter contacted us several days ago, he hinted that something was going on that had the potential to have a severe impact on knife ownership.

That’s because the impact of the CBP ruling would go far beyond just imported knives. Often, “agency determination” is used by domestic courts and law enforcement to determine what is a “switchblade” under both federal and state laws. Many states do not themselves define switchblades and simply rely on the federal definition and interpretation, which is only found in rulings by CBP.

Since interstate commerce in switchblades is prohibited, except under very limited conditions, simply driving across a state line with a pocket knife in their possession would make someone a federal felon.

Ritter and hundreds of others protested to CBP, asking for an extension of the comment period. On Wednesday, that request for an extension was denied, meaning, that barring some sudden change of heart, the CBP will proceed with the revocation.

So what does that mean?

“If their new ruling is accepted and put in place, says Ritter, “the next step will be seizing a warehouse full of imported one-hand openers, which they can legally do, declaring them to also meet their now very broadly defined interpretation of what a switchblade is. They came very close to doing that a few years back in a seizure involving Columbia River Knife & Tool.”

“With this ruling in place, they would succeed. Then the definition of what is a switchblade is expanded even further. It is this that has knife owners and the knifemaking industry up in arms, because our lawyers understand how these bureaucrats use these rulings and language games to get well beyond what it appears at first glance they are reaching for.”

Now, KnifeRights.org and the Second Amendment Foundation have teamed up to try and get together a grassroots campaign to help Customs see the error of their ways.

There’s one rub – the comment period ends on June 21 and only written comments sent via FedEx/UPS or USPS will be accepted.

As Ritter points out, failing to protest the move will only open the door for the inevitable expansion of the definition.

There’s a model letter available if you’re interested in letting Customs know you don’t appreciate their proposal. You can see it at http://www.kniferights.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=79&Itemid=29

The knife you save may be your own.

–Jim Shepherd