Are there any laws limiting ammo ownership?

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possenti

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We've all seen news reports where police have seized a large "cache" of ammunition from a person's home. The number of rounds is usually in the 1000's, and naturally a few guns are found also. The other circumstances of the alleged crime are sometimes not even mentioned in the same news story. Of course, this implies that the suspect's crime is possesing a large amount of ammo, but I've never seen a law cited by the media that says there is a limit to how much ammo a person can own.

Are there any laws - anywhere in the US - that specify ammo limits? It wouldn't surprise me to learn that CA and some New England states have them, but the "ammo cache" news reports seem to come from everywhere.
Or is the media simply trying to scare the sheeple and/or 'enforce' laws that aren't even on the books?

I know - many of us here think these reported numbers are merely a Sunday afternoon supply at the range, but to the average Joe, they get quite scared that someone has that much lead and brass lying around.
 
I'm not aware of any.

However, they can get you for improper storage and labeling in some cases. Think it's a misdeamenor. They tagged in guy in the Baltimore area for it recently.
 
I don't know and I don't care I am a reloader and I shoot what I reload. I reload somewhere around 6 calibers. Sometimes I may have 1000 + reloads around the house 1 wk. and nothing the next.

I have 4 shooters in my home and we can go through a lot of ammo.
 
Even if some states have laws on how much ammo you have at one time it would be very hard to enforce as no one will obey it. It will also be rather easy to get around, just buy a box or two of ammo everytime you go to Wal-mart.

-Bill
 
Sounds like it's only if it's relation to another crime.

A large purchase however, can get the attention of the BATF. And a visit.
 
If its breaking a law it tends to be a local fire code that tends to also reference the storage of paint, gas, etc.

In CA they are trying to pass laws to track your ammo purchases:uhoh:
 
There are no federal quantity limits, but there are some bans on certain types of ammo, "armor-piercing" handgun ammo, for one.
 
When we went to the NRA Whittington Center in June, we had over 7000 rounds of ammo in the trunk of Sandy's Taurus.

If we broke any laws, I sure didn't know about it (or care).
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Wow, I'd be more concerned about breaking the car!:p
 
Dang ! I just did a rough count and I've only got about 13,000 rounds counting my .22LR. I need to start shopping some more I thought I had about 20,000.
 
A large purchase however, can get the attention of the BATF. And a visit.
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What would be considered a large purchase? would buying a case(1000 rds) or two online be consided a large purchase?

-Bill
 
would buying a case(1000 rds) or two online be consided a large purchase?
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Not in my experience. My biggest purchase was the mail-order of 2500 rounds of rifle ammo (.223 and .303). Never heard a word about it from anyone, though the UPS guy probably wasn't thrilled.
 
Your title asks "Are there any laws limiting ammo ownership? "

IIRC, Federal law prohibits those prohibited from owning a firearm from owning ammo as well. This includes ammunition components.

I could be wrong, it was in last years FL publication of the green book.
 
Not in my experience. My biggest purchase was the mail-order of 2500 rounds of rifle ammo (.223 and .303). Never heard a word about it from anyone, though the UPS guy probably wasn't thrilled.
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I don't know how they would know either.

Unless the business you bought from decided to volunteer the information to the FBI or something. I don't think there is any law that says something like "If 10,000+ rounds are purchased please call the ATF".
 
IIRC, it's two or more that get you a multiple gun purchase form. A gun shop employee would have the details...
 
There's a group of us from the range I frequent that are putting together a group buy to get better pricing. I think at last count we were looking at buying between 25,000 and 30,000 rounds.

When I buy online I usually buy 500 or a 1000 rounds in the same caliber.

If the BATF wants to give me a call I'll tell them that I started competition shooting and have been practicing a lot. I'd even be happy to give them the name of the range where they can verify that I shoot competitions and need the practice.

If they want to come to my house and look around, they'll need a warrant. I don't have anything to hide, but they don't have any business snooping around my house either.
 
Nope...

I just had about 7000 rounds delivered by the UPS guy. The BATFE can kiss my %$@$%^&.

Is it illegal to own too many SUV's? Knives?

Buy it cheap and stck it deep.

MaceWindu
 
The most I have ordered at once is 4K rounds, and since it was heavy and what not it showed up in seperate boxes over 2-3 days. No problems anywhere, and I offered the ups guy an ice cold mountain dew and he was really happy.

The only time you run into laws is with black powder that is a bit more of a problem to store than smokeless powder or loaded ammo. In that case you wander into "powder magazine" or whatever they call it.

Now and then some places talk about how dangerous ammo is in a fire. Research on the net shows that a round not contained in a barrel or other item able to handle high pressure will pop open at a low enough velocity to normally be stopped by the jacket firemen and women wear. Ammo boxes and what not are acceptable to store ammo in, the military does it because the boxes bulge and vent gases at a low enough pressure to not create an ammo box bomb.

I should say the laws you don't have a problem with are federal. Some places in some states are a pain. In ohio I don't know if they are after ammo but they can certainly have some laws around certain towns and cities that make it difficult to visit folks and bring any gun without checking the laws first.

Overall, buy surplus ammo when you can get it cheap and get into reloading. I did some reading on primers and really pay attention to how those suckers get stored.

And with how insurance companies go after some dogs, I don't know if you want to ask about storing 10k or 20k or more rounds of ammo in your house, and asking about "replacement value".

I am not an expert, I have never had a problem, I don't ask questions I don't want the answer to with my insurance or fire or police, and overall I like to shoot and will handle things by dealing with the fall out when there is fall out. Gee, sounds like I stick my head in the sand a bit.
 
I dont have ammo so I am ok.. That being said you should beable to buy all you want! Well as long as you have room for it that is, having to leave some in the fridge might not be a good idea.... :D
 
A large purchase however, can get the attention of the BATF. And a visit.
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(me)

Actually happened. A local range member helped his friend select an assortment of guns. The best gun in each of the popular calibers. His friend then ordered about 5000 rounds for each.

Nice to be rich.
 
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