Even as America attempts to recover from the Ammunition Crisis of 2020, the access to ammo becomes more complicated as the State Department under President Biden imposes a ban on the importation of Russian ammunition and firearms late on Friday, August 20th, 2021. The new sanctions immediately deny the importation of firearms and ammunition, citing the poisoning of an Aleksey Navalny, with a prohibited nerve agent Novichok. While the condemnation of the poisoning can be understood, the correlation to a ban on ammunition and firearms raises questions. Even as the state department bans Russian Ammo Importation, the target may not be only to sanction against the foreign economy, but directly impact Americans as well.
One might begin from the position that, if they do not own an AK-47 or other firearm chambered in 7.62 or 5.45, they can rest at ease, but aside from this bearing a sentiment of “not my caliber, not my problem” it dangerously resembles actions such as the Bump Stock Ban that opened the door for the BATFE to consider items such as the FRT-15 by Rare Breed Triggers as Machine guns in and of themselves.
The further effect on the American ammunition economy will necessarily suffer, driving up the price of not only Russian-inspired firearm builds and the ammunition, but the cost of brass-cased cartridges, with a trickling down effect.
There are, however, conditions for removal:
Duration and Conditions for Removal
https://www.state.gov/fact-sheet-united-states-imposes-additional-costs-on-russia-for-the-poisoning-of-aleksey-navalny/
These latest sanctions on Russia pursuant to the CBW Act will take effect upon the publication of a Federal Register notice expected on September 7, 2021, and they will remain in place for a minimum of 12 months. The sanctions can only be lifted after a 12-month period if the Executive Branch determines and certifies to Congress that Russia has met several conditions described in the CBW Act, 22 U.S.C. 5605(c), including (1) providing reliable assurances that it will not use chemical weapons in violation of international law, (2) it is not making preparations to use chemical weapons in the future, (3) it is willing to allow international inspectors to verify those assurances, and (4) it is making restitution to Mr. Navalny.
The spurious connection between the ban on ammunition importation, and the alleged poisoning of Aleksey Navalny, identify a chief problem. First, the Russian ammo ban on very specific importations damages American citizens, and second, the using the actions of the Russian Government as a reason to specifically target imports of non-related items, not to mention, items that impact only firearms owners, raises questions about the motive of the new sanctions.
As of the time of writing the cost of steel case ammunition which typically is imported from Russian Manufacturers is skyrocketing, doubling in minutes without a pressure release in sight.
Update: As it stands, current approved Form 6 import requests for importation are still to be honored, but all pending and future Form 6 applications with Russia are subject to denial. For those who are already in the process of importing on existing approval, they can still import ammunition and firearms.
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In my opinion, the ban has nothing to do with the Russian government but has everything to do with the Biden goobermint in their on-going effort to hamstring U.S. citizens in the exercise Constitutional Rights.