Shortly after President Obama won the November 2008 election, US firearm sales increased. Fearful that the US had just elected an activist gun control president whose rhetoric was less than straightforward, citizens concerned about their Second Amendment rights seized an opportunity to get supplies while they lasted. Not long after, the first Second Amendment campaign began with scrap metal.   

A successful war strategy is to cut off supply or make supply unobtainable by cost. There would be no need to outlaw or restrict gun rights if ammo is not available. One such source of ammo (that the government has full control of) is fired scrap metal. After the military expends bullets for training, the scrap metal is often sold to be reconverted into bullets. In March 2009, reports circulated the Internet about the Department of Defense shutting down this business.

The new DOD policy was documented in letters sent to distributors and within internal correspondence obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act. In one such email from March 11, 2009, the “Demilitarization” office purported that “Fired Brass is DEMIL B. All DEMIL B is prohibited from sale based on the NOV. DUSD policy letter.” With this classification, all fired ammo scrap metal was to be mutilated and not distributed for further sale to law enforcement, gun ranges, private citizens, etc. By eliminating one source of supply, the cost of ammo would likely have increased across the spectrum (supply and demand) and such cost could discourage private citizens retaining firearms.  

By March 18, 2009, The Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) reversed its stance and approved fired brass for sale. In their defense, they proffered that the policy had not actually changed, but that “DRMS suspended the removal of fired brass shell casings pending a review of policy change within DOD relating to the release of controlled and or sensitive items to the general public. This action did not specifically target cartridge cases rather, cartridge cases were affected incidentally.”

Whether the scrap metal escapade was a simple misunderstanding or something else all together, gun-toting citizens continue to have a right to be cautious. To get to the bottom of the Obama Administration firearm policies, Judicial Watch submitted several Freedom of Information Act requests early in the Administration. Every agency has failed to respond within 6 months-- even though the Law requires a response in 20-30 days. Firearms may not be everyone’s top priority, but wouldn’t it be nice to know the government’s policy? Wouldn’t it be nice if Obama and Holder kept their promises of transparency?