Labor Department Announces It Will Revise Overreaching OSHA
Explosives Rule
Monday, July 16, 2007
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it
will significantly revise a recent proposal for new "explosives
safety" regulations that caused serious concern among gun owners.
OSHA had originally set out to update workplace safety regulations,
but the proposed rules included restrictions that very few gun shops,
sporting goods stores, shippers, or ammunition dealers could comply
with.
Gun owners had filed a blizzard of negative comments urged by the
NRA, and just a week ago, OSHA had already issued one extension for
its public comment period at the request of the National Shooting
Sports Foundation. After continued publicity through NRA alerts and
the outdoor media, and after dozens of Members of Congress expressed
concern about its impact, OSHA has wisely decided to go back to the
drawing board.
Working with the NRA, Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT) planned to
offer a floor amendment to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill this
Wednesday when the House considers this legislation. His amendment
would have prohibited federal funds from being used to enforce this
OSHA regulation.
Such an amendment is no longer necessary since Kristine A. Iverson,
the Labor Department's Assistant Secretary for Congressional and
Intergovernmental Affairs, sent Rep. Rehberg a letter, dated July 16,
stating that it "was never the intention of OSHA to block the sale,
transportation, or storage of small arms ammunition, and OSHA is
taking prompt action to revise" this proposed rule to clarify the
purpose of the regulation.
Also, working with the NRA, Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) gathered
signatures from 25 House colleagues for a letter, dated July 11,
expressing concerns about this proposed OSHA rule. The letter called
the proposal "an undue burden on a single industry where facts do not
support the need outlined by this proposed rule" and "not feasible,
making it realistically impossible for companies to comply with its
tenets."
The OSHA proposal would have defined "explosives" to include "black
powder, … small arms ammunition, small arms ammunition primers, [and]
smokeless propellant," and treated these items the same as the most
volatile high explosives.
Under the proposed rule, a workplace that contained even a handful of
small arms cartridges, for any reason, would have been considered
a "facility containing explosives" and therefore subject to many
impractical restrictions. For example, no one could carry "firearms,
ammunition, or similar articles in facilities containing explosives …
except as required for work duties." Obviously, this rule would make
it impossible to operate any kind of gun store, firing range, or
gunsmith shop.
The public comment website for the proposed rule is no longer
accessible. The Labor Department will publish a notice in the July
17 Federal Register announcing that a new rule proposal will soon be
drafted for public comment. Needless to say, the NRA monitors
proposed federal regulations to head off this kind of overreach, and
will be alert for OSHA's next draft.
Good job, folks. Let's get ready for Rd II.
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