Yesterday, the ATF announced that it would not be going ahead with its proposed ban on “green tip” AR-15 ammunition. “You spoke, we listened,” the agency tweeted. The move has been shelved — for now.

Over at Wonkblog, this has caused some consternation. “Angry gun owners shouted down a ban on armor-piercing bullets,” screeched Todd C. Frankel, before noting bitterly that the reaction to the proposal has been “withering.”

“Angry”? “Shouted down”? That’s certainly one way of looking at it. Another is: ”Free citizens rejected their government’s attempt to irrationally deprive them of everyday ammunition.”

All told, it is almost impossible to avoid the conclusion that Frankel is irritated by the ATF’s transparency. If the agency had just gone right ahead and done it, he seems to be saying, none of these pesky American citizens could have got in the way. And nor, for that matter, would ”236 members of Congress” and “fifty-two senators” have had the occasion to express their opposition.

Frankel notes that:

The agency pulled the plug early, with still a week to go before the end of a one-month informal comment period on the proposed rule change that would have targeted these armor-piercing bullets. The ATF noted it had received more than 80,000 comments, and “the vast majority of the comments received to date are critical of the framework, and included issues that deserve further study.”
“We have listened to the comments that people have put it, and by the sheer volume and critical nature, we’ve decided to put this on hold and study it further,” Seward said.

He then compares this outcome with last year’s ban on 7N6 rounds:

Last year, the ATF successfully banned Russian-made 7N6 bullets on the grounds they were armor-piercing. Some gun-rights groups objected, but that ruling stood.
“We didn’t put it out to comment,” Seward noted.

What a difference some sunlight makes. What a disgrace that the Washington Post’s elite “explainer” blog would deride it so.