Public Outcry Leads Defense Department to Reverse Spent Ammo Directive

Ryan Byrnes
CNSNews
April 24, 2009

The U.S. Department of Defense has reversed a directive that would have prohibited U.S. ammunition retailers from purchasing used brass shell casings from the government — and at least one ammo maker credits public outcry for the change of heart.

“It just restores my faith that the system works,” Curtis Shipley, owner of Georgia Arms, told CNSNews.com. “If enough people are motivated and say ‘Hey, that is wrong,’ the system does still work.”

Shipley said thousands of calls, letters and e-mails went to the DOD and to lawmakers to protest the now-rescinded order, which would have made the brass available only as useless scrap metal to be sold to China and other countries.

Shipley said his company, one of the country’s top retailers of .223-calibre ammunition, normally buys 30,000 pounds of spent brass at a time from the Defense Department. Georgia Arms then turns the brass into ammo and resells it to law enforcement agencies, gun shops and other retail outlets.

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