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Author Topic: DOD Ends Sale of Expended Military Brass to Remanufacturers  (Read 5040 times)
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Terric7058
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« on: March 16, 2009, 04:36:04 PM »

I don't care what anyone says this is just another step in taking away the lawful right to own guns First ammo will go sky high

 

Sunday, March 15, 2009
DOD Ends Sale of Expended Military Brass to Remanufacturers

AND SO IT BEGINS...
We all wondered when it was going to start.

When the new administration would make their move against us as gun owners. Oh, everyone got upset about HR45--I'll bet I got over 100 e-mails warning me about this draconian gun registration bill that had been introduced in Congress.

I was really glad to see Tom Gresham, host of "Gun Talk Radio," an editor, writer, television host on "Self-Defense TV," and one of the foremost gun spokespersons, come out and tell everyone to stop worrying about legislation so absolutely over-the-top--it would never get out of committee.

Tom said save your energy for when we really need it--don't expend it trying to warn everyone in your e-mail list about legislation that would go nowhere.

Now, Tom just interviewed me, and Larry Haynie, owner of Georgia Arms (www.georgia-arms.com), on Gun Talk (www.guntalk.com)--and Tom agrees, now is the time to "...unleash the hounds..." by which he means start e-mailing and writing your senators and congressmen.

Now it has come clear...now we know what they intend to do.

It is an end-run around Congress. They don't need to try to ban guns--they don't need to fight a massive battle to attempt gun registration, or limit "assault" weapon sales.

Nope. All they have to do is limit the amount of ammunition available to the civilian market, and when bullets dry up, guns will be useless.

Think we jest?

Here are copies of two letters sent to Georgia Arms just Thursday evening--effectively cancelling a contract he had to purchase 30,000 pounds of expended military brass in .223, 7.62mm, and .50 caliber:


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



March 12, 2009

Larry Haynie
Georgia Arms
PO Box 238
Villa Rica, GA 30180

Re: Event 7084-6200:

Dear Larry Haynie,

Effective immediately DOD Surplus, LLC, will be implementing new requirements for mutilation of fired shell casings. The new DRMS requirement calls for DOD Surplus personnel to witness the mutilation of the property and sign the Certificate of Destruction. Mutilation of the property can be done at the DRMO, if permitted by the Government, or it may be mutilated at a site chosen by the buyer. Mutilation means that the property will be destroyed to the extent prevents its reuse or reconstruction. DOD Surplus personnel will determine when property has been sufficiently mutilated to meet the requirements of the Government.

If you do not agree with the new conditions of your spot sale, please sign the appropriate box provided below stating that you do not agree to the new terms and would like to cancel your purchase effective immediately. If you do agree to the new terms please sign in the appropriate box provided below to acknowledge your understanding and agreement with the new requirements relating to your purchase. Fax the signed document back to (480) 367-1450, emailed responses are not acceptable.

Please respond to this request no later than close of business Monday, March 16th, 2009.

Sincerely,

Government Liquidation.



Got that? From now on, remanufacturers of military brass will not be able to buy surplus brass from DOD--actually from Government Liquidators, llc.--the corporation that sells surplus materials for the U.S. government. At least, not in any form recognizable as once-fired brass ammunition.

Now all brass ammunition will have to be shredded, and sold as scrap.

Georgia Arms, who brought this to our attention, is the 5th largest ammunition manufacturer of centerfire pistol and rifle ammunition in the U.S.

"We're right up there behind Hornady," Larry Haynie told me.

He also told me with the cancellation of his contract to purchase this brass, and the ending of his ability to purchase any more expended military ammunition, he will have to severely curtail his operation--laying off approximately half his 60-person work force.

Haynie further pointed out this move is a stupendous waste of taxpayer money--reducing the worth of the brass some 80%--from casings, to shredded bulk brass.

He stated most of this will now go to foundries where it will be melted down, cast in shippable forms, and likely be sold to China, one of the largest purchasers of U.S. metals on the open market.

Haynie was manufacturing over 1 million rounds of .223 ammunition every month, which he sold on the civilian market to resellers, and to law enforcement agencies across the country.

He will start tomorrow sending cancellations of orders for .223 to law enforcement agencies all over the country.

You can expect this to affect every bullet you purchase in the future--with no reloaded ammunition available, the already strained new manufacturers will be unable to meet demand. They are already turning out everything they can build for the military market. The civilian market is stressed to the point even reloading components have become hard to find.

Now, with this hit, ammunition prices will go through the roof in the next year.

Your quality piece, sitting in your gun rack, will become a very expensive wood and steel, or plastic and steel club.

What can you do?

Google "contact members of Congress" or simply type in www.congress.org.
When you reach that site, type in your zip code--it will give you all your representatives, senators, and their web pages.

Or you can find the addresses and e-mails of your own senators and congressmen by going to www.senate.gov and www.house.gov. Both pages have locator aids at the top of the page.



Here is a letter I just sent to Representative Bill Cassidy, Congressman from the 6th District of Louisiana, and Senator David Vitter of Louisiana. I will be sending it to every member of our congressional delegation. Feel free to copy it and paste in your own e-mail, sending it to your legislators.

We have to stop this now!


The Honorable Bill Cassidy
Member of Congress from Louisiana

Dear Congressman Cassidy:

It has come to my attention that the Department of Defense has issued a directive that all expended military brass (fired cases) will now be shredded and sold for scrap material, rather than resold by Government Liquidators LLC to the civilian market for remanufacture.

You may not be aware of it, but there is a severe shortage of ammunition available for sale to the public across the country, causing problems for shooters, hunters, and reloaders everywhere.

Now, apparently the Obama administration, realizing they cannot move against private firearms ownership since the landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Washington D.C./Heller case, has made their move in another way.

By cutting off the resale of expended military ammunition to remanufacturers, they have put a stranglehold on the nation's ammunition supply.

Further, they have reduced the return to the government on expended brass by 80%. What was sold for remanufacturer at a fair return to the government, will now cost the taxpayers untold sums of money as the cost of scrap brass is far below the price per pound for expended military ammunition.

In addition, the use of remanufactured ammunition is a huge asset to law enforcement agencies across the country who buy millions of rounds of reloaded ammunition a year from these manufacturers for practice rounds.

With this market gone, law enforcement will no longer be able to purchase inexpensive reloaded ammunition, and with the continuing combat status of military forces across the Middle East, original manufacturers of new ammunition are turning out everything they can make to the government, thus exacerbating the shortage of new ammunition in both the civilian and law enforcement market.

Lastly, in these harsh economic times, does it not strike you as cold and calculating that the Obama administration has no compunction against ruining an industry that employs thousands of American citizens in the remanufacturing of sporting and military ammunition. One major resupplier, Georgia Arms, the fifth largest manufacturer of centerfire pistol and rifle ammunition has informed me he will have to quickly lay off half his 60-person workforce, as he has had to cancel contracts with dozens of police agencies who had contracted with him to supply them with remanufactured .223 ammunition.

Georgia Arms has been practically put out of business by this directive that all expended military brass must be shredded. His current contracts have been canceled, and he is notifying his customers across the country he can no longer supply their ammunition needs.

Please look into this immediately. This move by the Obama administration is nothing but a back-door strike against firearms ownership in this country--if shooters can't buy ammunition, the guns are little better than steel clubs--and this is obviously the intent.

Thank you for your time and efforts in this serious attack against the Second Amendment rights of the American citizenry.

Sincerely,

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oldiebutgoodie
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« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2009, 07:40:04 PM »

I have some questions. Is the "expended military brass" the only source of raw material for the manufacture of bullets/ammo? Can gun shops and gun owners legally purchase ammo from another country, say, like Mexico or Canada or anywhere else? Is it illegal to import ammo to the U.S. or the raw material used in the manufacture of ammo?

Does this restriction on the use of material from the American military have anything to do with our "military waste product" falling into the hands of terrorists and unfriendly foreign governments? Has any of our military waste product ever been found in the wrong hands?

Wouldn't the phrase in the Second Amendment, "...to keep and bear arms" (or something like that) include ammo and all other items necessary to the function of an actual gun? Or does "arms" define only one basic chunk of metal (a gun) but none of the peripheral stuff required to make it work?

Is this policy of rendering leftover surplus munitions/ammo useless before release to the general public a brand new policy of the Obama Administration or have our military branches been practicing this policy for years? In reference to this specific question, does this excerpt from an official Air Force publication relate to the question at all:

THE EXCERPT:

Quote
The Military Services are responsible for periodically clearing residue from all range areas in order to maintain range safety and sustainability.  These activities include clearance of unexploded ordnance (UXO) including live, inert and practice munitions; cartridge casings, fragments, and target residue; and ordnance-derived wastes, such as a packing target and shipping materials. Range residue must be processed and demilitarized before it is removed from the range and released to the public.

Throughout the range clearance and subsequent management of range residue, the safe handling and disposition of these materials require strict management controls.

LINK TO THE ABOVE By the by, that document was published in 2002. When did President Obamma take office? Who was President in 2002?

I understand that ranges are only one place where "expended brass" or leftover military junk might occur.

What I'm really trying to locate is an official publication of our military stating what the official policy is on the disposal of expended military waste product, especially regarding its resale to the public. I would like to see what the actual policy was and how it differs now.

I'd also like to see any credible source for any story about how our own military junk/surplus has been used by terrorists and unfriendly governments.
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oldiebutgoodie
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« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2009, 08:39:47 PM »

I found this online... it is legislation that was introduced to Congress in 1997:

Quote
On the Introduction of The Arms Surplus Reform Act of 1997
In The House of Representatives - October 1, 1997


I rise today to introduce the "Arms Surplus Reform Act of 1997." This legislation will bring much needed reform to the sale of military surplus materiel by the Department of Defense.

If military surplus were simply a matter of combat boots, camouflage and fatigues, this legislation would not be necessary. But for those in the know, Pentagon surplus can mean a cheap, nearly untraceable supply of weapons and weapons parts that cost the U.S. government billions of dollars to purchase.

According to the current system, each piece of equipment that the Pentagon designates as "surplus" is assigned a demilitarization code, or "demil" code. Demilitarization represents the work necessary to make surplus materiel fit for sale to civilians: twisting of gun barrels, mutilation of helicopter frames, removal of explosives from bombs, erasing the memory and software from military application computers, etc.. Equipment is graded on an alphabetical scale. An "A" code signifies benign materiel when no demilitarization is necessary. A "D" code requires extensive demilitarization before surplus sale.

The problem lies in the execution of the process. Equipment is coded incorrectly and almost always too easily. When Pentagon investigators did a random survey of surplus stock, they found missile simulators, bombs, guidance systems for cruise missiles, fully functional automatic weapons, as well as other potentially deadly materiels. Enforcement of procedure is so lax that an Air Force base in Georgia lost track of $39 million worth of surplus materiel.

This situation represents more than a fiscal threat to our Country. Sophisticated weaponry is finding its way to foreign interests while criminals in the United States rely on military surplus to outfit their operations. A methamphetamine lab run by a national gang was raided by Drug Enforcement Agents in Los Angeles, who found machine guns and flame-throwers traceable to arms surplus. One military surplus supplier was outfitting Cobra Attack helicopters for resale. According to a story filed in U.S. News and World Report, one such citizen, Ron Garlick of Montana, said, "Mine was fully armed. I had rockets on it and machine guns. I was out there shooting coyotes with them." It's a good thing Mr. Garlick was not shooting at people, the Cobra Attack helicopter is one of the deadliest helicopters in the world.

The problem extends beyond domestic purchases. The Chinese are the biggest buyers of sensitive electronic surplus materiel. Among the items recovered from Chinese scrap dealers were encryption devices, submarine parts, radar systems, tubes for Patriot missiles and parts for the Stealth F-117A fighter. Iran and Iraq are also reported to be large purchasers of military surplus.

As former Secretary of Defense William Taft wrote during the Reagan Administration, "a U.S. Customs investigation has confirmed that the defense surplus system is a source of supply for arms traffickers." The thought of the U.S. Government supplying arms to terrorists, drug runners and foreign interests is a very disturbing one.

It gets worse. Customs officials examined 240 tons of electronic "scrap" headed for Hong Kong which originated from the Pentagon Defense Reutilization Marketing Organization (DRMO) base in San Antonio, Texas. The officials found massive amounts of sensitive communications and encryption equipment -- none of which should have been available for civilian purchase. Thirty-seven internal guidance systems for the Stealth bomber (at an original cost of $22 million) were headed for Shanghai, without any demilitarization modifications whatsoever.

At Robbins Air Force Base in Macon, Georgia, the DRMO had adopted a "expedited processing" program. To speed things up and obtain more sales, a surplus sales manager at Robbins told DRMO investigators she had falsified documents and demilitarization statements, registering weapons and other equipment as scrap that was then made available for sale fully intact.

The Pentagon seems unwilling to correct this problem. Perhaps it is a case of misplaced priorities. An internal email message at the Pentagon laid out the priorities of the surplus program as "1. Profits 2. Profits 3. Profits 4. Profits 6. Accountability" (priority # 7 was demilitarizing lethal weapons). With the Pentagon unwilling to face the problem, the system needs Congressional intervention.

This legislation does not outlaw surplus sales. This bill will not infringe on the rights of collectors or enthusiasts. This bill will absolutely be cost effective because we will no longer be selling Stealth fighter parts at 16¢/pound. This legislation simply halts sales and gives the Defense Logistics Agency the time necessary to fix the problems in the program.

The Arms Surplus Reform Act of 1997 will place a moratorium on all surplus arms sales until the Pentagon gets its house in order. To lift the moratorium, the Director of the Defense Logistics Agency must certify to Congress that:

The Department of Defense Inspector General has completed a full inventory of military surplus stores and stock;
The Defense Logistics Agency has reviewed and correctly classified all improper demilitarization codes;
The Comptroller General has reviewed the surplus sales process and made recommendations to the Director of the Defense Logistics Agency concerning improvements to the program.

Currently each service Branch codes its own surplus. The legislation would establish a Central Coding Office within the Defense Logistics Agency which would have oversight over all surplus coding. The Central Coding Office would also oversee the demilitarization of equipment before civilian sale.

To fight abuses of the surplus sale program, the legislation would create a record of sale for military surplus which contains the following: the Department of Defense source of the item, including the military base where it was demilitarized and sold; the degree of demilitarization required and performed; the name of the person purchasing the item and other such information as the Secretary of Defense deems appropriate.

This legislation would also prohibit the Defense Logistics Agency from advertising its available surplus stock on the Internet until the conditions for lifting the moratorium have been met.

I would like to thank my colleagues who have joined me as original cosponsors of this bill. I am grateful to them and share their vision of a more peaceful world. I thank Ms. Pelosi of California, Ms. Slaughter of New York, Mr. Lipinski of Illinois, Mr. Filner of California, Ms. Hooley of Oregon, Ms. Maloney of New York, Mr. Yates of Illinois, Mr. McGovern of Massachusetts, Mr. Sanders of Vermont, Ms. Christian-Green of the Virgin Islands, Ms. Lowey and New York, Mr. Kucinich of Illinois, Mr. McDermott of Washington, Mr. Miller of California, Mr. Markey of Massachusetts, Mr. Sabo of Minnesota and Mr. Guiterrez of Illinois for joining me in this effort.

There is no excuse for the fraud and abuse in this program -- especially when these problems lead to deadly consequences. To quote William Portanova, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in California, "On its best day, the military surplus system is morally embarrassing to the governmentand it never has a best day." Let's change that.

I urge my colleagues to join me as cosponsors of this legislation.

From Pete Stark (D), representing California's 13th District
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Terric7058
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« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2009, 08:40:28 PM »

No its not the only supply. This was only used in reloads. Reloaded ammo sells for less then new. I don't see any reason that any terroist group would really want it unless they were going to take up reloading. But I also can't see any reason the government would want to start selling the used brass for less.
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oldiebutgoodie
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« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2009, 08:57:29 PM »

Oh, man, I love that government liquidation website! It is absolutely awesome, the stuff they sell. They have exactly the kind of hospital bed I wanted to get for my Mom and I would bid on it except that you have to GO WHERE THE ITEM IS and pick it up. I'm in Southern California and the item is on a military base near Texarkana. Oh well.
 
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WhiskeyGirl
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« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2009, 05:29:42 PM »

Quote
March 17, 2009
When recycling is not politically correct
Rosslyn Smith

It sees that not all forms of recycling are to be embraced.  In a move that will greatly increase the cost of ammunition and may cause several US manufacturers to lay off workers, the Defense Department is ending a long standing practice of selling expended brass cartridges to domestic ammunition manufacturers.   Instead the readily recyclable casings are to be melted down and recast for sale as scrap metal. To add insult to injury it should be noted that a scrap metal the brass will sell for substantially less than the expended casings themselves now bring!

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/03/when_recycling_is_not_politcal.html

In these budget challenged times, why would anyone take scrap product and melt it to sell it for less?

Who's going to buy this new lower value product?  China?  Russia?  Mexico?
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WhiskeyGirl
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« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2009, 05:33:46 PM »

In the back of my mind, I seem to recall that resource poor pre-WWII Japan bought up much, if not most, of US scrap metals.  It was used against us.

Fast forward over fifty years - Obama Administration fuels the WWIII enemy advantage?
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All my posts are just my humble opinions.  Please take with a grain of salt.  Smile

It doesn't do any good to hate anyone,
they'll end up in your family anyway...
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