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Dem lawmakers to announce bill limiting online ammo sales
By Meghashyam Mali - 07/29/12 05:45 PM ET

Two Democratic lawmakers on Monday will announce new legislation to regulate the online and mail-order sale of ammunition.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (N.J.) and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (N.Y.) said the new law would make the sale of ammunition “safer for law-abiding Americans who are sick and tired of the ease with which criminals can now anonymously stockpile for mass murder,” in a statement released Saturday.

The lawmakers cite the recent movie massacre in Aurora, Colo. for spurring their bill.

“The shooter who killed 12 and injured 58 in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater this month had purchased over 6,000 rounds of ammunition anonymously on the Internet shortly before going on his killing spree, according to law enforcement officials,” the statement reads. “The shooter used a civilian version of the military’s M-16 rifle with a 100-round drum magazine, a shotgun and two .40-caliber semi-automatic handguns commonly used by police officers.”

Lautenberg and McCarthy, who will unveil their new proposal at New York’s City Hall say they intend to “make it harder for criminals to anonymously stockpile ammunition through the Internet.”

Lautenberg and McCarthy are two high profile advocates of gun control legislation, but they face an uphill struggle in Congress.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said last week that he does not intend to bring gun control legislation to the floor and President Obama has been reluctant to press lawmakers to act on the issue in an election year.

Democratic senators though have offered an amendment to the cybersecurity bill that would limit the purchase of high capacity magazines by some consumers. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) defended it last Thursday as a “reasonable” gun control measure.

The amendment is identical to a separate bill proposed in January 2011 by Lautenberg also banning the sale of high capacity ammunition magazines.

After the shootings in Colorado, the New Jersey senator urged lawmakers to reconsider his bill.

“We need to start today on efforts to prevent the next attack,” he said in a statement. “We should begin by passing my legislation to ban the sale of high-capacity gun magazines. No sportsman needs 100 rounds to shoot a duck, but allowing high-capacity magazines in the hands of killers like James Holmes and Jared Loughner puts law enforcement at a disadvantage and innocent lives at risk.”

Loughner, the gunman charged in the shooting of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (R-Ariz.) and Holmes, who is the lone suspect in the Aurora theater shootings are both believed to have used high-capacity magazines.

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“The shooter used a civilian version of the military’s M-16 rifle with a 100-round drum magazine, a shotgun and two .40-caliber semi-automatic handguns commonly used by police officers.”

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Actually, all online ammo sellers require that you fax them a copy of your drivers license. They verify your birthday that way and will only ship to the address on the license.

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Lautenberg joins call to ban online ammunition sales
Monday July 30, 2012, 2:19 PM
BY HERB JACKSON
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT


Sen. Frank Lautenberg joined a House colleague whose husband was killed in a mass shooting to call for a ban on online ammunition sales Monday.

The bill was motivated by the deaths of 12 people and injuries to 58 more after a man who had bought 6,000 rounds of ammunition on the Internet opened fire in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater.

"It should take more than a click of a mouse to amass thousands of rounds of ammunition," Lautenberg, D-N.J., said in a news release.

The bill would require anyone selling ammunition to be a licensed dealer, and anyone seeking to buy ammunition to show a photo ID at the time of purchase, a requirement sponsors say would effectively ban online or mail-order purchases.

"Responsible dealers can act as a line of defense against the planning and stockpiling of a potential mass killer," said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y. McCarthy ran for Congress and became an outspoken advocate for gun control after her husband was among six people killed, and her son among 19 injured by a gunman who began shooting passengers on a Long Island Railroad train in 1993.

Lautenberg and McCarthy are also sponsoring a bill to ban large ammunition magazines, and held a news conference last week to call for its enactment since the Colorado shooter had a 100-round magazine.

Lautenberg and his Senate cosponsors may try to amend the measure to a bill on the Senate floor aimed at combating cyber terrorism, but it is not clear whether they will get a chance to do so.

Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress have said they were not interested in passing new gun laws after the Colorado shooting. In recent years gun control advocates have lost several legislative battles to the National Rifle Association and its allies.

For example, advocates were not able to get Congress to renew a 1994 law that banned the sale of assault rifles and large-capacity magazines, and it expired in 2004.

Email: jackson@northjersey.com

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the picture at the scene shows a 30 round clip

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This is just a stunt by the ammunition manufacturers to boost sales. Nothing more.