Feds Block Import of M1 Garands and M1 Carbines from Korea
According to the Korea Times, the U.S. Government (branch and officials unknown) has stymied plans by the Korean Defense Ministry to sell 86,000 M1 Garands and 22,000 M1 Carbines to American gun collectors. The gun export program was designed to augment Korea’s defense budget, and the Defense Ministry had hoped to start shipping rifles at the end of 2009. But somebody in Washington has blocked the re-importation of the classic Garands and Carbines.
There are many unanswered questions involving this story. The Koreans won’t say exactly what branch of the U.S. Goverment is opposing the shipment of M1 Garands and M1 Carbines, and the Obama Administration isn’t talking. The Korea Times reports:
The problems the U.S. government cited were somewhat ambiguous, said an official at the Ministry of National Defense on condition of anonymity.
“The U.S. insisted that imports of the aging rifles could cause problems such as firearm accidents. It was also worried the weapons could be smuggled to terrorists, gangs or other people with bad intentions,” the official told The Korea Times.
“We’re still looking into the reason why the U.S. administration is objecting to the sale of the rifles and seeking ways to resolve the problems raised,” he said.
Gangs Armed with Surplus Garands?
The No Lawyers – Only Guns and Money Blog attacked the notion that Classic M1 Garands (or carbines) would become the new weapon of choice for ‘gangs or other people with bad intentions': “As to the assertion by some unnamed U.S. official that gangs might use M-1 Garands, I think someone watched the movie Gran Torino a few too many times. Can you imagine how many cases of ‘M-1 thumb’ there would be if the Crips, the Bloods, or the Latin Kings were to attempt to use a M-1 Garand?”
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Tags: Korea, Korean War, M1 Carbine, M1 Garand, State Department
Oh please! No gang member in their right mind would be caught dead with a 70 YO weapon that exemplifies the “establishment” in their minds. It would be a total loss of street cred! It’s no more than a manufactured excuse not to bring in more “military” arms into the US and upset some wimpy politicians.
We need more information. What government agency is blocking the import and just as important, who is it that is trying to import? Is it the CMP or some commercial concern?
Per what I heard about this a week or so back, the hardware may have been sent to South Korea as part of our Military Sales Program for free, not sold under the Military Assistance Program.
If the former is true, they can’t be sold again – ever – as part of the original agreement, not even if it’s back to the U.S.
If the latter, South Korea can’t produce proof of sale for the rifles, which would prove they’d been sold once and could then be re-sold back to the U.S.
South Korea wants money for these rifles. If we provided them for free, it would be stupid for the U.S to permit them to be sold back to us or to anyone else, considering that any military assistance from the U.S.A. could then be sold on the open market just to make some money at Uncle Sam’s expense.
I sure hope we hear that Steve Clark’s explanation is the reason for this. Then I’ll feel a lot better.
Hey, I’m only repeating what I read somewhere on the Internet! It MUST be true then right?
Seriously, here’s a link to the thread over on the National Match Forum where I stole my info from:
http://www.usrifleteams.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16629
I don’t believe you have to be a member to read posts, only if you want to be an active participant.
My take is the rifles were given to Korea, just as they were to Germany, Greece, Argentina and other countries to bolster their armies. Korea can’t sell them. They have to be returned to the DOD, the U.S. Army in particular. They are U.S. Army property loaned out. The Army usually releases them to CMP, who is the only organization authorized to sell them. CMP has no say in the import and can only sell to legal U.S. citizens, former vets or authorized youth competitive groups and they require proof of citizenship and NICS check with the FBI or the sale is not made. It is a very strict policy and is never, I mean never circumvented.