[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 91 (Thursday, June 24, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H4833]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONGRESSIONAL ACTION REQUIRED ON 50 CALIBER ARMOR-PIERCING AMMUNITION

  (Mr. BLAGOJEVICH asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BLAGOJEVICH. Mr. Speaker, the role of the United States military 
is to provide for the national security of our country. We are grateful 
for that. What is not the role of the military is to provide armor-
piercing ammunition to the civilian market.
  Mr. Speaker, 50-caliber sniper rifles are among the most powerful and 
destructive weapons available today. Armor-piercing ammunition that 
that weapon uses can destroy aircraft and armored personnel vehicles. 
The General Accounting Office reports that, unbelievably, our military 
provides surplus ammunition to a company in West Virginia that 
refurbishes the ammunition and then resells it to the civilian market.
  Adding insult to injury, we, the taxpayers, pay the company to take 
the ammunition. This ammunition is easily accessible to the general 
public. One can buy it by mail order, one can buy it by the Internet, 
and one can buy it in gun stores.
  Who would want to buy this ammunition, one might ask? If one is a 
hunter and a sportsman, one does not need this ammunition. But if one 
wants to take out a helicopter, take out a limousine, or commit some 
sort of heinous crime, one might want that ammunition.

                          ____________________