The Latest of the "Sim-unition" Ban

Near the end of 2023 the ATF banned the sale of UTM non-lethal ammunition to civilians using an interpretation that states it is "not adaptable to sporting purposes". ( Sporting purposes clause in 18 U.S.C. § 925(d)(3)), This allowed the ATF to circumvent any comment period and appeal process rendering the largest and most common manufacturer of force on force training ammunition to not be allowed sales for civilian uses. 

While this may be unknown to many shooters, this particular non-lethal ammo is used to train for life-like scenario training including situations like active shooter.  This means that the church security group, the well trained citizen, even the private security guard are unable to utilize this training aid.  

As an individual who has participated in several of these trainings and courses I have found these amongst the most valuable to understand my own behavior in a situation, learn from my mistakes with a little pain (the rounds hurt if you are hit), and interact with my environment and surrounding people effectively.  

I brought this issue up to the office of litigation (ILA) of the NRA and they looked into the issue promptly.  The bad news is that because of the way the ATF banned the import of the non-lethal ammunition there is no appeal or way to circumvent this ban.  The good news is that the ban only affects the importation and domestic manufacturers can still provide the non-lethal training ammunition for civilian use. We as end users need to reach out to our domestic manufactures and encourage them to increase manufacturing and policies to enable citizens to engage in their Second Amendment.  I think we can all agree that a better trained population makes us all safer.

As always, stay safe and know I've got your six.