(H/T: Instapundit) They just realize that the most recent attempt ended poorly.

ATF Director Todd Jones, who is resigning at the end of the month, angered Democrats last week when he backed down from a controversial plan to ban certain types of armor-piercing ammunition for AR-15 rifles amid pressure from Republicans and gun rights groups.

The bullet ban was handled “sloppily,” Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) said Friday, but he is hoping to revive the plan under the new ATF director.

…which would be an excellent reason to hold off on a new BATFE director until Barack Obama can find one that thinks that the US Constitution needs to be followed instead of evaded.  Which will probably be ‘never,’ but that’s fine: BATFE is one of those unholy amalgamations of various programs that have been epoxied together and called a bureau.  Break it up into its constituent parts, hand over the relevant ones to other agencies, and let the carcass of the rest bloat in the sun, is what I say.

Note, by the way, that Steve Israel is somebody, at least by Congressional Democratic standards.  The Representative is assistant Democratic Whip and chaired the DCCC… well, he chaired it right into a brick wall, but never mind that right now.  The important thing here is that when [mc_name name=’Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY)’ chamber=’house’ mcid=’I000057′ ] talks about banning your gun’s ammunition he absolutely means it – and that so does the rest of the Democratic party.  They’re already trying to convince the acting BATFE head to stick his hand in the same buzzsaw that took out his predecessor – and the Democrats are not going to stop until they realize that being against the Bill of Rights is a political death sentence.  New York’s Third Congressional District has a Cook PVI of zero: frankly, Steve Israel is far too liberal for that seat.

Oh, I know: that would be a really, really tough political battle. Sometimes it’s worth it, though.  This would be one of those times.

(Image via Shutterstock)

Moe Lane (crosspost)