Reply #26: Editorial...Feds make Garand error on gun sales ...

[spin]

Published: October 11, 2010 3:00 a.m

In 2009, the Obama administration approved the sale of about 850,000 M1 Garand rifles and carbines from the Republic of South Korea to gun collectors in America.

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This year, however, the State Department reversed itself and banned the sale, stating it could potentially be exploited by individuals seeking firearms for illicit purposes.

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The M1 rifle is large, heavy and old. The low-power carbine, although smaller and lighter, uses special hard-to-find ammunition. Both are expensive, because they are collector items, technically classified as “Curios or Relics” by the BATFE. The M1, essentially, is never used by criminals and is obsolete for combat, law enforcement or other similar applications. It was first employed by the Army in the early 1940s, almost 70 years ago.

Imagine the State Department, in the early 1940s, prohibiting the sale of archaic Custer-era (1876) single-shot Springfield trapdoor rifles, claiming they could be exploited by individuals for illicit purposes. Such a prohibition would have been equally ludicrous as the current one regarding the M1.

People seeking guns for “illicit purposes” wouldn’t even consider the M1. It is obsolete, too big, too heavy and too expensive. The State Department should reverse itself – again – and allow the Republic of South Korea to sell its surplus M1s to American gun collectors and enthusiasts.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20101011/EDIT05/310119997/1147/EDIT07