Some are hopeful the new management in Washington will be able to lift barriers to overseas firearm imports erected over the years, though the going could be slow.
President Donald Trump on Friday said it was “very early” to tell if the United States should lift sanctions on Russia, but that he seeks a “great relationship” with Putin and Russia.
On the campaign trail, Trump’s platform on trade concentrated on American jobs while floating the possibility of a tariff on all imported goods to help ease the current trade deficit. However, the Republican’s position on gun rights promised to curtail federal gun bans and limits. The two concepts, when balanced against one another, leaves open the possibility of action on foreign-made guns currently off-limits to buyers in the U.S.
I talked to industry insiders on both sides of the pond, the ATF, and the International Trade Commission to get the scoop on if bans going back to the 1960s could be reshaped.
His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Abdul-Azziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh, is a straight-up nutjob. The problem was, he was also the strongman dictator of the small West African country of The Gambia for the past couple decades.
In case you haven’t heard of this character, he claims to hold a colonel’s commission in Kentucky, an Admiral’s in Nebraska, threatened to cut off the heads of any homosexuals in the country, claimed he can cure AIDS with bananas, survived a dozen attempts to dethrone him both real and imagined, and has had over 1,000 of his subjects citizens kidnapped re-educated after they were accused of being witches.
Back in 2014, a group of four American citizens with ties the country decided to overthrow Jammeh of Gambia, in a story that I covered extensively.
The would-be revolutionaries had military backgrounds to one degree or another to include one, Papa Faal, 47, of Minnesota, who was a long-time veteran of the U.S. Army and Air Force that included recent combat service in Afghanistan.
Well, that effort tanked but Jammeh was unsurprisingly voted out in an election last year that he vowed to abide by at first, then ordered the election commission disbanded.
As President-elect Adama Barrow fled the country, Jammeh reportedly imported foreign mercenaries to help provide some extra muscle to help put down Barrow supporters if the 1,600-strong Gambian Armed Forces (GAF) couldn’t be fully counted on.
The outside mercs were reportedly out of work West African rebels and child soldiers (“ex-Ivorian militants and Liberian mercenaries underway, headed by former officers of Charles Taylor” …” 300 to 400 people who have signed up for a fee ranging between $100 to $300 a day”).
Then, the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS– a regional group of 15 West African countries which Gambia is a member of– decided to step in and drop the hammer on 19 January.
As the crisis deepened, more than 1,000 Senegalese troops crossed the border into The Gambia, set to march to the capital Banjul and force Jammeh to step down. The contingent had air cover from combat-loaded Nigerian armed reconnaissance jets, helicopters, and other personnel.
Senegal and Nigeria are both members of ECOWAS. The regional bloc instructed the Gambian military to remain in its barracks.
ECOWAS Senegalese troops hold their position in Barra, across from the Gambian capital Banjul Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017, one day after Gambia’s defeated leader Yahya Jammeh departed from the country. ECOWAS troops are moving in to prepare for the return of newly installed President Adama Barrow.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
The Nigerian Air Force contributed a couple surplus German Alpha Jets for air cover as well as some light transport (C-130H, AW109) and ISAR craft as part of the ECOWAS force. As the Gambian military only has a single SU-25 bought from Georgia in static display condition more than a decade ago, the Nigerians were likely to have total air superiority.
Below is NAF Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar, hyping the contingent up before leaving for Dakar, where they operated from.
As this happened, officials swore in Adama Barrow as the internationally recognized president of the country in the Gambian embassy in Dakar (Senegal).
As the Senegalese troops moved in on Banjul, and Jammeh’s mercenaries lost their interest in taking on the tough British/French-trained and U.S.-equipped regulars who have been France’s watchdogs in Africa for generations (the Senegalese, with the help of a pair of SAS troopers, helped put down a coup in 1981 in The Gambia in less than a week), the dictator decided to split Saturday night, recognising Barrow as leader. Senegal has also had extensive ties to AFRICOM who no doubt provided some behind the scenes assistance.
Gambia’s army commander, Ousman Badjie, made a point of greeting the incoming troops and celebrating with the pro-Barrow crowd, showing that Jammeh was probably right about those mercenaries in the first place.
However, the unemployed dictator reportedly absconded with most of what the impoverished country had in the bank:
Underscoring the challenges facing the new administration, [Barrow’s special adviser Mai Ahmad] Fatty confirmed that Jammeh made off with more than $11.4 million during a two-week period alone. That is only what they have discovered so far since Jammeh and his family took an offer of exile after more than 22 years in power and departed late Saturday.
“The Gambia is in financial distress. The coffers are virtually empty. That is a state of fact,” Fatty told journalists. “It has been confirmed by technicians in the ministry of finance and the Central Bank of the Gambia.”
Though the foreign troops will be in place for now, “ECOWAS will halt any military operations in The Gambia and will continue to pursue peaceful and political resolution of the crisis,” noted the group Saturday.
From the U.S. State Department late Sunday:
The United States welcomes the on-going peaceful transition of power in The Gambia and congratulates President Adama Barrow on his inauguration. We applaud the commitment to democracy and the restraint shown by the Gambian people over the past weeks.
We commend the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other regional partners for their leadership in addressing the situation. We appreciate the decision by Yahya Jammeh to depart The Gambia peacefully and echo President Barrow’s call for Gambians to unite and work together as brothers and sisters for the future of The Gambia.
The United States is proud of our close ties to the people of The Gambia and looks forward to working closely with President Barrow and his team to achieve the aspirations of all Gambians.
As for Jammeh, he says he is only in exile in nearby Equatorial Guinea for now.
In related news, the British Army this month deployed 90 soldiers from 1st The Queen’s Dragoons Guards’ ‘B’ Squadron alongside 25 soldiers of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces for a jungle exercise in that nearby (to Gambia) country– the first of its kind in that country. The fact that a company-sized force was within a short airlift away from the former British colony during all this is noteworthy.
Britain recently launched a new Defence Section in Senegal and has had 350 troops in Nigeria where 22,000 Nigerian military personnel have been trained since April 2015.
So in California, which has had an assault weapon ban going all the way back to 1989 and yet still have mass-shootings with California-compliant firearms, lawmakers tried to pass over 20 legislative actions on increased gun control this session.
A baker’s dozen of these made it through the legislature in Dem-heavy votes of which Gov. Jerry Brown signed 7 into law and returned five with vetoes.
Since gun rights groups and Republican lawmakers couldn’t derail these, a group of gun owners on a gun forum (Calguns) got together and decided, “Let’s try for a ballot referendum to repeal these…”
And that’s exactly what they are doing.
With a pressing deadline of Sept.29, they are trying to get 450,000 signatures on 7 different propositions. Of course, California has 13 million gun owners, which by definition should all be capable of registering to vote, so it’s not far-fetched.
I’ve spoken with the man behind the effort, a San Diego tech company executive, and it’s a hail Mary play with a lot of spunk behind it.
“Kanarejka” (Canary) system, mounted below the AKS-74U assault rifle. Now this is a real assault rifle. An “assault weapon” is a political term.
“Assault weapons bans” go back a quarter century with California implementing the first such restrictions in 1989. The the California Department of Justice’s assault weapon list has some registered 145,253 firearms as of last year when I did an in-depth report on them. However, the AWB, although tweaked continually, focuses on named models and arbitrary cosmetic features such as hand grips, barrel shrouds, and threaded muzzles, deeming such guns “assaulty” while they accidentally wind up making such innocent models as the Marlin Model 60, a tubular magazine .22LR popgun, illegal in some states.
Such bans aren’t very efficient, nor do they reduce crime, as witnesses a decade after in a postmortem on the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, which sunsetted in 2004.
Even the sometimes left-leaning New York Times noted that, “The continuing focus on assault weapons stems from the media’s obsessive focus on mass shootings, which disproportionately involve weapons like the AR-15, a civilian version of the military M16 rifle.”
Further, manufacturers can just rename their guns and delete cosmetic features, selling state-compliant models. As such, you can still very much buy modified AR-15-ish rifles in California legally over the counter. Sure, they have bullet buttons and look funny, but at their heart they are still ARs.
A state-compliant AR. Even these abominations are banned in Massachusetts, at least for now.
However, Massachusetts Atty. Gen. Maura Healey last week flipped the script and decided to re-interpret the state’s 1998 ban to include an interchangeability test on the gun’s action, as ruling whether it is banned under state law. For instance, if Mass-compliant 5.56mm semi-auto rifle accepts the same bolt carrier group and magazine of the banned AR-15, it is banned as well.
So now components, such as the bolt carrier group and charging handle, define what make up an “assault rifle” under Healy’s interpretation of Mass law….not the gun itself.
Gun grabbing genius this is. Because of the extremely broad strokes used to issue her office’s new guidance, most semi-auto centerfire rifles with the exception of a few (Ruger Mini-14, Remington 7400, Winchester 1910, etc), can be outlawed.
Following the news that the terrorist in the Orlando attack was able to legally purchase his firearms from a local store after he was turned down by one licensed dealer just days before, I spoke a couple weeks ago with software developer and long-time gun owner Seth Banks who came up with an idea that gun shops could help network to keep this from happening in the future.
The idea is simple. A private network for verified Federal Firearms Licensees to share and report incidents they have with suspicious buyers, and communicate with each other. When one shop in the network posts an alert, other dealers within driving distance are alerted via email, in-app notification, and/or text message.
“FFLs deny gun purchases for all sorts of reasons; including mental health, straw sales, intoxication, violent comments in the store, etc. … FFLs are on the front line protecting our community from bad actors already. Why not make their jobs easier?” Banks argued.
As I mentioned back in April, picked up 10 stripped Anderson lowers from a local FFL and have been working on a couple of builds.
These two are now loaded with a Palmetto State Armory AR15 Fire Control Group (#7265); with Classic Lower Build Kit (#445), M4 Stock, A2 Pistol grip, and Mil-Spec diameter 6-position buffer tube assembly and ambi single point sling attachments..
Going to marry them up to a PSA Freedom Upper (#482726) with 16″ 416R stainless 5.56 NATO barrel with a 1 in 7″ twist and mid-length gas system (.750 diameter at the gas block), classic handguards; full-auto profile BCG (#35099) and a 7075 T6 Forged Mil-Spec Charging Handle (#24080).
Here is a great AR15 build video to help you get your own lowers ready:
(Not the actual Wild Geese in question, but still a great film. Dat DPM-UZI combo thoe…)
Back in 2014 a group of four American citizens with ties to the West African country of The Gambia decided to overthrow President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia, whose official state website lists him as His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Abdul-Azziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh, among other titles.
The would-be revolutionaries had military backgrounds to one degree or another to include one, Papa Faal, 47, of Minnesota, who was a a long-time veteran of the U.S. Army and Air Force that included recent combat service in Afghanistan.
The plot involved shipping semi-auo AR-15s, NVGs and assorted sundry banana republic gear to Africa secreted in 55-gal drums. Once on the ground, Faal led ground assault team of a dozen ethnic Gambians from the UK and Germany in an attack on the Presidential Palace that was supposed to be supported by a sympathetic company of Gambian troops.
Well the turncoats never turned and Faal and the boys were left assed-out, only barely managing to break off the attack and beat feet out of the country.
There four men charged in 2015 with Conspiracy to violate the Neutrality Act and Conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence plead guilty last week and in exchange picked up paperweight sentences of between six months and 366 days in federal prison–except for Papa Faal who got off with time served.
Hmmm, that’s kinda interesting if you ask me. Just saying. Papa Faal, if you are out there, hit me up at egerwriter@gmail.com and let’s talk.
Anyway, more on the coup details in my column at Guns.com where I’ve covered this story here, here and here.
In 1989 California lawmakers puked up one of the first assault weapons bans in U.S. history and in subsequent years added tweaked it and added such blanket restrictions as prohibitions on .50BMG (because there are so many crimes done with these…). While the California Department of Justice has tried really hard to ban anything that is AR-15ish or AK-47like, all enterprising gun owners have had to do is use devices such as ‘bullet buttons’ and low-capacity magazines to be able to own one today.
Still, between 1989 and 2001, the state allowed the registration by civilians of grandfathered guns. Well through Guns.com I did a public records request to CA DOJ and obtained their list of registered guns, all 145,253 of them. A detailed analysis found some really interesting things.
Here’s a snapshot of the top 25 manufacturers for example:
28,259 Colt Mfg, almost all Sporters and AR-15 type rifles
16,665 Chinese Norinco/Polytech/Clayco rifles, primarily AK and SKS pattern guns in 7.62mm
14,797 Bushmasters, almost exclusively XM-15 series rifles
9,158 Heckler & Koch firearms, with Model HK 91, 93 and 94 rifles accounting for the majority
4,529 Springfield Armory rifles, primarily M1/M1A 7.62mm guns
4,528 IMI guns including 179 Galil rifles and 4301 UZIs of multiple types in 9mm and .45
4,199 Armalites including 291 AR-10s and 1046 AR-180s
3,124 Eagle AR-pattern firearms
2,924 Intratec branded guns, all variants of the TEC-9/AB-10 and TEC-22 pistol
2,732 Ruger firearms, mostly Mini-14 and Mini-30 rifles
2,199 FN/Browning/FNH with mainly FAL and FNC type rifles listed
2,189 SWD guns mostly Cobray and M10/11/12 MAC-style pistols
1,876 Arsenal made AK-pattern rifles in 7.62mm
1,461 DPMs, all AR-15 variants
1,457 Austrian Steyrs, almost all AUG-series 5.56mm rifles
1,303 Korean Daewoo firearms in several variants, almost all 5.56mm rifles but also 16 DR300s in 7.62 and 5 DP51 pistols
1,170 Franchi shotguns in the uber-scary SPAS 12 and LAW12 varieties
While I was sitting back on Dec. 30/31, 2014 celebrating my 40th birthday (yaay me, still have all my own teeth and hair!), a group of expatriate Gambians were (allegedly, everyone is innocent until proven guilty) fighting for their lives in that West African country’s capital city.
You see a Gambian-born former U.S. Army (SSGT, Service and Support battalion) vet who had also been in the USAF (in a ARW) then went on to be an IT guy in Minnesota, was leading 10-12 other ethnic Gambians in a firefight with AR-15s he smuggled into the country wrapped in blankets from the Frozen Land of 10,000 Lakes.
This leader of these Dogs of War went by the codename “Fox” while the money-man behind the adventure, an investor from Texas and hopeful for the next spot as President of The Gambia, went by the codename “Dave” who allegedly financed the ill-fated op to the tune of $220K.
(Dave’s not here)
The goal was to relieve this guy:
From power.
Here you see one “His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Abdul-Azziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh“, the defacto kingdictator President of Gambia since he relieved the last Democratically-elected President of his employment in a 1994 military coup.
In case you haven’t heard of this character, he claims to hold a colonel’s commission in Kentucky, an Admiral’s in Nebraska, threatened to cut of the heads of any homosexuals in the country, claimed he can cure AIDS with bananas, survived a dozen attempts to dethrone him both real and imagined, and has had over 1,000 of his subjects citizens kidnapped re-educated after they were accused of being witches.
Anyway, things didn’t go too well for Fox and Dave who managed to get the fcuk out of the Gambia with their skin while apparently many others did not. However the FBI now has them in custody and the DOJ is throwing the book at them. Seems nobody can take a joke anymore.
