Tag Archives: state department

Bringing the M1’s back from the ROK

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m1 garand

A House measure introduced last week would override the Obama-era State Department’s embargo on thousands of M1 Carbines and Garands long blocked from import.

The legislation comes as the latest installment in an effort by Republican lawmakers to change the 2009 decision to block the importation of no less than 87,000 rifles donated to South Korea and now surplus to that country’s needs.

“These M1 models represent a significant piece of our military history and should be available to collectors in America to the extent that other legal firearms of the same make are routinely bought and privately owned,” said bill sponsor, U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., in a statement.

More in my column at Guns.com

Connex loads of quiet headed overseas?

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Back in 1976, the Ford Administration approved the Arms Export Control Act as part of the NDAA which gave the State Department the juice to regulate foreign military weapon sales and transfers. Part of this, under the later International Traffic in Arms Regulations, led State to put the kibosh on commercial sales of things like night vision gear and suppressors , citing they were defense articles.

hk 91 with suppressor and m1 garand silencerco photo
This means that while countries like Norway, Finland, New Zealand and the UK have lax laws on the sale of “silencers” for sporting and target purposes, U.S. firms like SilencerCo, Gemtech and Surefire can sell all they want to the Royal Marines or the Norwegian Army, but not to good old gameskeeper Mr. Thatcher or hunter Mr. Johansson– even though local laws are cool with it.

I did speak to several inside the beltway and the suppressor industry about that last week, and a new legislation, the logically named Suppressor Export Act, to change the regs.

More in my column at Guns.com

Lawmaker seeks to open the floodgate of South Korean M1 imports

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Universal Soldier by Tim Page showing a ROK marine in vietnam after combat. Note the M1 Garand, the South Koreans have over 87,000 of these in arsenal storage that they have been trying to sell to a U.S. importer since 2009

Universal Soldier by Tim Page showing a ROK marine in Vietnam after combat. Note the M1 Garand, the South Koreans have over 87,000 of these in arsenal storage that they have been trying to sell to a U.S. importer since 2009

A measure introduced this week to the U.S. House of Representatives is looking to override the State Department-imposed blockade on thousands of M1 Carbines and Garands coming home from Korea.

The move comes as the latest installment in an effort by Republican lawmakers to force change in the administration’s 2009 decision to block the importation of no less than 87,000 rifles donated to South Korea that are now surplus to that country’s needs.

Previous attempts launched in past sessions to free-up the guns failed to gain traction, however with recent GOP gains in Congress and a seemingly lame duck president in the twilight of his term, one representative isn’t giving up.

The rest over in my column at Guns.com