NY Attorney General hates the thought of everyday Americans owning firearms.  She works tirelessly to attack gun owners at every turn, including trying to run the NRA out of business. As if her current civil corruption trial of Wayne LaPierre isn’t enough, on Wednesday she launched a new front in her war for civilian disarmament: surplus Lake City 5.56 ammo.

She’s partnered with 19 other state attorneys general to prod the Biden Administration to shut down civilian sales of excess Lake City 5.56×45 ammunition. While that might not sound like a big deal, that ammo represents 30% of civilian sales of that flavor of AR-food.

5.56 NATO ammunition ammo
Shutterstock

If they’re successful, that will sharply tighten supplies of 5.56 and cause prices to head back toward $1 per round.

And everyday Americans – the little people – will have fewer choices of affordable ammunition for self-defense and personal protection as Letitia James and these other blue state attorneys general play politics with your right to self-defense.

Here’s Letitia James’ press release:

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James led a multistate coalition of 20 attorneys general calling on the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to investigate recent reports that a federally funded contractor has produced military-grade ammunition for sale to civilians, including to perpetrators of horrific recent mass shootings. Attorney General James and the coalition sent a letter asking the Office to investigate how a facility overseen by the U.S. Army, Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (Lake City), produced billions of rounds of ammunition that were sold on the civilian market, and asked the Office to ensure that future military production contracts prohibit the sale of military-subsidized weapons and ammunition to civilians.

“Military-grade weapons and ammunition do not belong in our homes or in our communities,” said Attorney General James. “Ammunition made at Lake City has been used to kill American civilians in devastating recent mass shootings, including the Tops Supermarket massacre in Buffalo. The continued sale of this ammunition on the private market puts everyone at risk. I’m proud to join with my fellow attorneys general to raise this important issue and help ensure that weapons of war don’t make their way onto our streets.” 

Lake City is a manufacturing facility operated by a private contractor and overseen by the U.S. Army. It is one of the country’s largest manufacturers of military ammunition, able to produce some 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition per year, much of it for use in AR-15-style rifles. Its commercial operations have sold billions of rounds onto the civilian market, and recent reporting from the New York Times has shown its products have been used in mass shootings and other crimes.

The coalition of attorneys general notes that Lake City rounds have become the “ammunition of choice” for use in mass shootings, citing shootings at Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, as recent examples where Lake City rounds were used. The Buffalo mass shooter even praised Lake City ammunition as “the best barrier penetration ammo I can get.” 

The federal government has invested over $860 million to improve production at Lake City, meaning taxpayer funds are subsidizing production of these dangerous rounds sold to civilians. The coalition led by Attorney General James is calling on the White House of Gun Violence Prevention to investigate the contracting and manufacturing practices that led to military-grade rounds being sold to civilians, issue a public report with recommendations about how to keep military ammunition out of civilian hands, and take steps over the long term to ensure that future production contracts prohibit the sale of military weapons and ammunition to civilians.

Joining Attorney General James in sending the letter to the White House are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia. 

Attorney General James has consistently taken action to stop gun violence and protect communities by limiting the spread of dangerous weapons. Earlier in December, Attorney General James led a multistate coalition of attorneys general supporting a new ATF rule to limit unlicensed gun sales. In November, Attorney General James successfully defended against Second Amendment challenges in six cases in the New York State Court of Appeals involving gun possession charges. In May, Attorney General James sued a gun accessory manufacturer that aided the Buffalo mass shooter. In April, Attorney General James took action to remove more than 3,000 guns off New York’s streets in a single day through the first-ever statewide gun buyback program. In March, Attorney General James and the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force took down a firearm and drug trafficking operation that illegally sold guns, including ghost guns and assault weapons, in New York City. Also in March, Attorney General James secured a court order banning 10 gun distributors from selling and shipping ghost gun parts into New York. In June 2022, Attorney General James sued 10 national gun distributors for bringing ghost gun parts into New York.

Time will tell how much sway the Biden regime has with the private vendor running the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant.

In the meantime, you can check out this three-minute video about the Lake City plant.

64 COMMENTS

  1. I’m okay with the idea of this on 2 conditions:
    1-The US Government is forbodden from nationalizing civilian ammo plants in times of crisis
    2-Those 20 states pay to make up for the subsidizing that the US SHOOTER does to keep those plants from being idle and costing the tax payers of the US money.

    My bet is they’d produce ammo to sell to groups of people internationally that hate us anyways knowing how Joe works.

    • Yeah, for starters, how many rounds of LC did we leave in Afghanistan and what did that cost us? Which are the other 19 states, I need to sort out where not to fall back to.

      • Never mind, I had to reread it because my eyes glazed over… Also, it seems that the District of Corruption is now a state. Meh

    • My position is this –

      If they do that, we sue, sue, sue.

      That flies directly into the face of the ‘Bruen’ decision. The only way to have a “well-regulated militia” is to have the ammunition needed for practice.

      If anything, the truly poor folks should get an ammo ration or tax credit, by the government.

      And if anything, I noticed a *lot* of empty land around the Lake City complex. We need to drastically-expand the facility, as a way to stabilize the ammo market…

      • Sue, sue, sue? Then what? How do the “winners” force compliance? Until that is accomplished, we’re left with a worthless judgement.

        “Wins” like Bruen, Heller, Dobbs are merely ignored by these states, who line up to attempt work-arounds and show contempt for the Constitution and the people. “Wins” like Roe, however, must be reverently respected as the law of the land.

        Suits merely bring on more suits, and enrich the lawyers. The only answer is to replace garbage collectors like James and her cadre at the ballot box.

    • Andrew. I am not good with this “idea”. First, the 5.56 mm round is RARELY used in those so called :”mass shootings(there is not standard definition of the term).
      Second, the 5.56 mm round is a very effective round against varmint. The fact that the Lake City facility sells to civilians the excess, keeps the cost of the ammo lower than it would be if they did not sell to us.
      Third, this administration and the rest of the hoplophobes are trying to find ways to keep us from enjoying our right under the Second Amendment.

  2. I knew this was the point of that NYT (IIRC) article a while back – to try to get a bunch of people who, prior to the article, didn’t even know what Lake City was, to join together and form a coalition for change based upon their shared lack of comprehension. Yee Haw.

  3. Shame there are no buses/garbage trucks running around in NYC. That big ole stupid gal would make a great hood ornament for one.

  4. The entire last paragraph has nothing to do with the merits of the proposed actions, but does make it clear that the true objective is to boost AG James’ political image rather than actually preventing any violence.

    • Remember that AG stands for Aspiring Governor. These people are trying to raise their profile, and have something to brag about on the campaign trail. Ignorant dems eat this stuff up.

  5. Maybe the Missouri AG should get the other 30 states to join in a campaign to lobby for increased production for the civilian market. I’m sure Slow Joe would be amenable.

  6. “Military-grade weapons and ammunition do not belong in our homes or in our communities,”

    So stop giving military grade weapons and ammunition to civilian police. Problem solved.

    • Actually, most police don’t use military grade ammo in their firearms. They actually use ammunition designed specifically to kill people. Unlike military grade ammo.

      • ‘Military grade ammo’ was specifically defined as to wound, not kill the enemy’s conscripts at the Hague Convention of 1899. Countries that signed on to said Hague Convention immediately worked on end arounds to the ‘expanding bullet’ ban. The British (e.g.) used aluminum tipped (later cellulous) .303 ammo that made the bullet stable in flight but very unstable upon impact. The Vietnam era standard 5.56 55gr ball ammo accomplished the same at least out to 250 yards or so. The bullet doesn’t have to expand because on impact it yaws and tumbles creating similar damage.

        • Soviet 5.45mm was deliberately designed to yaw and create horrific wounds. In the 1980s Afghan War, the Mujahedeen called the 5.45 the “poisoned bullet” because even wounds could be fatal.

      • Extremely good point.Plus the AR15 is not a military grade weapon, only the communist politicians calls them that and probably would not know which end of the gun to put to their shoulder

  7. The FBI has very intentionally ceased collating and distributing statistics in recent years. However; the stats from many years past refute the propaganda. Rifles of any type much less AR-15s are used in a tiny fraction of homicides.

    • Not only that, the AR pattern rifles these eedjit Pawl a TISH ins rant over continually are sp feeble they are not legal to use for the taking of deer in almost every state. Their effective range is MAYBE 300 yards, and its a well set up and well operated rifle that can be anywhere near accurate at that range.

      On the other hand, take any of the older milsurp rifles from our past. ANY of them fire a round that is capable and deadly accurate to 800 yards easily, IF the operator has the skill. I have watched a WW 2 Springfield M1906 with a dead stock barrel, smallish scope, and fired from offhand hit a target about a foot wide at a range of 1.2 MILES. Another friend of mine has taken quite a number of trophy bucks and one trophy cougar at 400 yards, one shot lights out dropped onto his hooves, using a Swedish 6.5 , x 55 military rifle. Another friend regularly hits his four inch target at 1000 yards, from prone.
      These AR’s she gets the screaming fantods over are nothing but a varmint grade rifle with goofy stocks bolted on. In nearly every situation where a mass killing with AR’s has taken place a half skilled shooter with a Ruger 10/.22 and a pocket full of 25 round prepped mags cauld rack up the same body count, and if skilled and cool-headed could do far more damage than most.

      When the pot of cabbage is all boiled down, she and her sidekicks co-signing this nonsense really are NOT concerned about safety for anyone but themselves, and the safety they are squalling about is their own politial safety.

    • well golly garwsh Ah dun got Moddideraytid….

      Reread it and can’t figger out whut muh crime is this time….

  8. This bigoted ass clown is intending to run for President in 2028. Note that the allies making the request are being made with huge Demorat majority politicians!!!

  9. Immediately fired off a letter to my Senator and Rep here in Washington.

    Basically asking them to raise Cain with Bob The Weasel™ and making sure that they know about this other tactic that Bob The Weasel™ is trying to pull.

    I really hope Side Show Bob gets severe complications from his next WuFlu shot after all the pain and suffering he has caused the residents of the State of Washington.

    His latest trick is sending out checks from the State of Washington to people that were part of a class action suit that paid out something like 48 million to the State, but he’s making it look like its money from HIM by stuffing letters in with the checks… (Rantz in Seattle has a write up on it, along with people that have been DEAD for 20 years are being sent said checks..)

    Democraps, if you can’t fake the votes, try buying them…

    • We, in Washington, need to go after Ferguson and Liz Berry, the shill from Giffords.org. It seems that every damned politician in Seattle is an enemy of the People.

      • The Peoples Repubelick of Pugetopia is a festering sore on the face of Washington.

        And Spokane isn’t far behind.

      • unless they are homeless or a criminal. or usr any of a select few letters of the alphabet to indicate their “preferences”

  10. So I ask you, who are the REAL threats to the Constitution, the Bill of rights and our Democracy? Take note that in the criminal cases against Trump they are all being headed up by African American Democrats. It amazes me as to why African Americans have yet to awaken to how badly they are used by Democrats.

    Remember it was Southern Democrats that initiated the Civil War because they didn’t believe that African Americans were actually human. They pushed legislation in Congress that didn’t allow African slaves to even be counted as a whole person but rather “3/5ths”! Nowadays Democrats can’t seem to define what a woman is or what human biology is. I believe that current Democrats actually want to foment another Civil War in their pursuit of power such that they get another shot at destroying the United States. After all why are there so many communists, socialists, anarchists and other reprobates defined as “Progressives” in their party. They are more than the left. They hate our Constitution because it allows courts to try to put a check on their many unconstitutional schemes!!
    There are very scary times ahead for my grandkids and their children and perhaps even my own kids the way these people are pushing us to the brink!!

    • “They pushed legislation in Congress that didn’t allow African slaves to even be counted as a whole person but rather “3/5ths”! ”

      The reason for that is a complete mystery for most of the public. The fraction was established not as a racist statement but as a means to mitigate the ability of slave states to import numbers of slaves sufficient to gain a complete majority in the House of Representatives.

      The slave states knew that the number of representatives a state was allowed was based on the number of people claimed as residents. The slave states could have imported enough slaves to ensure permanent majority in the House of Representatives. The fraction was established to make it harder to do that. It was the anti-slavery groups who insisted on the fraction, not slave states.

    • If they did, they would include .30-06, .308, .30 Carbine, and 7.62 x 39. And maybe even 9 mm Parabellum and .45 ACP.

  11. The gummint doesn’t make it’s own ammunition and the Lake City facility has since 2019 been operated by Olin Winchester. Being allowed to sell what they make that is in excess of the government’s needs gives Winchester a hedge against an unexpected surge in government consumption that neither Winchester nor the American taxpayer has to pay the cost of. Taking away that ability would make ammunition production more costly and our nation potentially less secure in the same stroke.

  12. The District of criminals is not a state so 19 not 20. It is accurate to say 20 attorney generals I suppose.
    What this actually is, is a handy list of places you don’t want to live in.

  13. Military grade weapons that have been used to kill American civilians. Civilians? A term used to denote a citezen during times of War.
    Hot diggity damn theBidens bureau of gunm violence prevention on a mission.
    I guess some people read the Second Amendment differently, the way I read it We The People should have military grade weapons capable of over throwing tyrannical governments and enemies of the State both foreign and domestic.
    You can bet your shoelaces theBiden is going to do everything in its power to stop domestic sales from Lake City.
    Where does the government get the money to keep that plant running?
    It barrows it from China and other foreign nations.
    What a fcking joke.
    Calm, calm, calming, ohhmmmm
    President Biden is the Greatest president America has or ever will have
    President Biden is the Greatest president America has or ever will have
    President Biden is the Greatest president America has or ever will have
    Forever and ever
    Amen.

  14. Letitia James is just another crack smoking Maoist trying to disarm the American people. James and the other 19 AG’s should be charged with sedition and, well, you know, receive some form of rehabilitative punishment.

  15. And, look everybody, here’s the actual racist!

    Go back to ‘stormfront’ and stay there, ass-wipe.

  16. Yeah, this came up before years ago. They can’t actually ‘legally’ stop the ammo from being made available to the general public via sales. Without civilian sales there is no contractor that can afford to produce ammo just for the government, that’s part of the deal. This is nothing new, its always been that way … but the anti-gun are expressing shock like this has been going on in secret and is just now being discovered. The U.S. Government literally funds, with tax payer dollars, such ammunition manufacture (not always in this plant though) in every defense bill and has been since the end of the civil war and the original intent was to supply the government AND the civilian population of the country. The Lake City plant is doing exactly what its suppose to be doing in intent…government and civilian population supply of ammo.

    There is actually no such thing as “military-subsidized weapons and ammunition to civilians” — it is property paid for by the American tax payer, its is literally American tax payer – subsidized weapons and ammunition, all bought and paid for by the American tax payer.

    • I dont know about contractors needing the citizens buisness. Theres an Army Emunition plant north of me that makes bombs ,155mm, and mortors. No citizens are buying those and it’s running full steam. When theres no wars they run a skeleton crew, general maintenance, inventory.

      • “Theres an Army Emunition plant north of me that makes bombs ,155mm, and mortors.”

        that’s a little bit different.

        Small arms ammo is really, per round, overly expensive for a contractor to make for just the government because the government gets it ‘at cost’. It has to be worth while business wise for the contractor…there are other things to consider like employees that need to be paid, benefits plans for them, tooling and equipment costs, utilities, upkeep and maintenance, administrative costs, shipping, etc… and these collectively far outweigh in cost and the only way to offset that, to ‘subsidize’ that, the only way to keep that financially viable for a contractor is sales to general public consumers (which also helps pay for those “bombs ,155mm, and mortors” you mentioned). Overall, if it wasn’t for that small arms ammo (bullets) being sold to the general public to offset their costs the production for what the government needs could not be maintained because no ammo contractor can afford to absorb those costs to produce what the government needs by giving it to them ‘at cost’.

  17. Why just 5.56? LC also produces several other calibers of small arms ammo. And it appears that AG James and the other morons are under the impression that “military grade” ammo is the bestest ammo made. SMDH

  18. Wrong! Replace those two groups with COMMIECRATS and you’ll be on target. But I suspect you’re one of them, so how about you have a warm aromatic mug of STFU&GTFO??

  19. “Military Grade”

    “ammunition of choice”

    These are terms created to scare the idiots of the general population, but in reality are meaningless.

    So it seems that to these Communist gun grabbers anything sold to the general population that meets a military specification now becomes “Military Grade” and therefore dangerous to use and store in our homes.

    And to say killers seek out Lake City rounds to use when they murder others is not consistant with any study that I can find.

    THE COMMUNISTS ARE WORKING OVERTIME WITH UNLIMITED GOVERNMENT FUNDING TO STRIP AMERICANS OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT AND THEIR NATURAL RIGHT OF ARMED SELF DEFENSE. THERE WILL COME A POINT IN TIME WHEN AMERICANS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO SHIT OR GET OFF THE POT AND FIGHT TO DESTROY THE COMMUNISTS NOW CONTROLLING AMERICA. TO DO NOTHING IS TO SURRENDER. WHEN THE SECOND AMENDMENT GOES DOWN, SO DOES THE ENTIRE CONSTITUTION.

    Here is a link of ATF traces by caliber ( Chamber Size) and the 5.56 mm is notably absent.

    https://247wallst.com/special-report/2023/04/08/firearm-calibers-most-likely-to-be-used-for-crime-in-every-state/

    • This BS from AG James is ridiculous on the face of it. Federal, Winchester, and many others produce ammo under contract for NATO spec ammo (9mm, .45acp, etc.). If the Biden admin tries to shut down LC surplus, they’ll be sued for breach of contract and Winchester would likely close the plant and layoff thousands of employee’s. The stupid. It burns.

      • “If the Biden admin tries to shut down LC surplus, they’ll be sued for breach of contract”

        Not likely. Military and government contracts have a weasel clause that declares the right of government/military to terminate at will. The clause often includes stipulations for equitable adjustment for the contractor.

        If a contractor fails to fulfill the contract, for whatever reason, government/military have penalty clauses for that, as well. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) is about 3in thick in paper form (DoD has its own supplement).

        Rare that a govt/military contract doesn’t favor govt/military.

  20. Gun people forget that there is magic involved in the production of military grade ammo. If that infamous 9mm pistol round can blow the lungs clean out of a victim, what do you think these 5.56×45 can do? Just one bullet should be able to kill 3 to 6 victims, blowing the lungs out of half or more! Oh, PLEASE! Think of the children! The same children that democrats want to groom into the next generation of sick, confused perverts.

  21. Another emotional, we must do something by people who do not understand the whole story.
    Let them display their stupidity.
    Anyways, glad I do not own anything in 5.56.

  22. So I got curious about the defending gun laws segment and read the link. Apparently she is doing a victory dance for a state level appeal that was denied. Better hope none of the defendants has resources or standing to appeal higher.

  23. When I read Letitia James’ press release, I had to check my calendar to see if it’s April Fools Day. It’s not, so apparently she’s serious and doesn’t realize how unintentionally funny her press release is, “calling on the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to investigate recent reports that a federally funded contractor has produced military-grade ammunition for sale to civilians…”
    That’s like calling on the National Hurricane Center to investigate reports that water is wet!

    “Military-grade ammunition,” LOL. Obviously she’s unaware that “military-grade ammunition” means it’s far less accurate than match-grade (or even target-practice-grade) ammunition and far less deadly than hunting-grade or home-defense-grade ammunition.

    • Unless the goal is to remove plentiful cheap ammo from circulation like they are doing their best to do here along with convenience and available vendors as well.

  24. The Second Amendment is all about we the people possessing Military Grade and better.
    This nonsense Assualt Weapon, call it an assualt weapon, and under The United States of America’s Constitution We are supposed to have assualt weapons.
    If your taking away the Constitutions Rights what’s that make you?
    A traitor to the Constitution you swore to uphold.
    By golly your an inserectionist.
    Of to Prison

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