Curios and Relics
by HR 615 – Collectible Firearms Protection Act
Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) has introduced HR 615 – the Collectible Firearms Protection Act. It is a mirror of the bill that Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) will be introducing into the Senate.
The bill has been referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee for hearings.
Currently, this bill has eight co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle.
Rep Bishop, Rob [UT-1] – 2/10/2011
Rep Broun, Paul C. [GA-10] – 2/10/2011
Rep Carter, John R. [TX-31] – 2/10/2011
Rep Donnelly, Joe [IN-2] – 2/10/2011
Rep King, Steve [IA-5] – 2/10/2011
Rep Miller, Jeff [FL-1] – 2/10/2011
Rep Rehberg, Denny [MT] – 2/10/2011
Rep Ross, Mike [AR-4] – 2/10/2011
If your own Congressman is gun-friendly, you should ask him (or her) to sign on as a co-sponsor of this bill. As a “cruffler”, if this bill passes it could mean more firearms imported or re-imported to the U.S. for collectors. I still remember the 3-fers that Century International used to offer. I got three Finnish Moisin-Nagant M-39s for $88 plus shipping.
Tester To Introduce Collectible Firearms Protection Act
The problem of importing those Korean Garands and M-1 carbines could be resolved if a bill that will be introduced by Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) is passed. The bipartisan bill already has six co-sponsors.
Below is the text of the bill that Sen. Tester plans to introduce to the Senate:
112TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION S. lTo amend the Arms Export Control Act to provide that certain firearms
listed as curios or relics may be imported into the United States by
a licensed importer without obtaining authorization from the Department
of State or the Department of Defense, and for other purposes.IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
Mr. TESTER (for himself, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. WICKER, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. ENZI,
Mr. BEGICH, and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following billA BILL
To amend the Arms Export Control Act to provide that certain firearms listed as curios or relics may be imported into the United States by a licensed importer without obtaining authorization from the Department of State or the Department of Defense, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Collectible Firearms Protection Act’’.SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO ARMS EXPORT CONTROL ACT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 38(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2778(b)(1)) is amended—(1) by redesignating the first subparagraph (B)(as added by section 8142(a) of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 1988 (as enacted into law by Public Law 100–202; 101 Stat. 1329–88)) as subparagraph (C);
(2) in subparagraph (C) (as redesignated byparagraph (1) of this subsection)—
(A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘subparagraph (A)’’ and inserting‘‘subparagraph (A)(i)’’;
(B) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘Secretary of the Treasury’’ and inserting ‘‘Attorney General’’; and
(C) by striking clause (ii) and inserting the
following:
‘‘(ii) the person seeking to export such firearms
to the United States certifies to the Attorney General that the firearms are lawfully possessed under the laws of the exporting country.’’; and(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(D) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, regulation, or executive order, any such firearms described in subparagraph (C) may be imported into the United
States by an importer licensed under the provisions of chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, without the importer or the person described in subparagraph
(C)(ii)—
‘‘(i) obtaining authorization from the Department of State or the Department of Defense for the transfer of such firearms by the person to the importer; or
‘‘(ii) providing payment to the Department of State or the Department of Defense of any of the proceeds of the transfer of such firearms by the person to the importer.’’.(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by subsection (a) apply to the importation of firearms described in section 38(b)(1)(C) of the Arms Export Control Act (as amended by subsection (a) of this section) on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Korea Times – US Opposes Sale of M-1 Garands to Collectors
See update II at the bottom of this story.
According to a story yesterday (Aug 15th) in the Korea Times, the US government has objected to plans by the South Koreans to sell their surplus M-1 Garands and M-1 carbines to U.S. collectors. The Ministry of Defense was attempting to sell 86,000 Garands and 22,000 carbines. They wanted to use the proceeds from the sale to boost their defense budget.
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.
The official above also said they were trying to work out the problems so they could be sold. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t detail whether the buyer was to be the Civilian Marksmanship Program or a surplus arms importer such as Century International Arms.
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?
UPDATE: Sebastian at Snowflakes in Hell makes an important point on this sale:
The Obama Administration has no legal authority to prevent the importation of these rifles. Under a provision of the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986, rifles and shotguns that are Curios and Relics are permitted to be imported, the “sporting purposes” language in the 1968 Gun Control Act be damned. That’s probably why they are resorting to back channel pressure to prevent the South Korean government from selling them as surplus.
This goes to show that the Obama Administration may be unwilling to take us on head on, but they are willing to screw us through the back channel.
UPDATE II: From Gun Totin’ Hippies, it appears that these Garands and M-1 Carbines were part of a lend-lease program and are US property to begin with. If that is the case, the only way they can be sold is through the ODCMP.
On Cosmoline
Chris Byrne at The Anarchangel Blog talks about what he calls the most hated substance on earth – cosmoline.
Any long-time Cruffler (collector of curios and relics firearms) will understand his angst in dealing with cosmoline as we’ve all done it in the past. Personally, I’ve used the boiling water method, the Simple Green method, the steam method, and the hot car method. They all work – somewhat.
Read his whole blog post to get more tips on how to deal with it.
Bubba’s Franken-Rifle
Sometimes you just have to shake your head wondering what the heck they were thinking. The Tunnel Buster from Gibbs Rifle is one of those things.
It mates the cut-down barreled action of a Springfield 1903A3 with the front sight/flash hider/bayonet lug of an Enfield No. 5 Jungle Carbine and puts it all in a plastic stock. And then they publicize it with this drivel:
Had “Carbine” Williams not invented the M1 Carbine, who would doubt that the U.S. military would have shortened the 1903A3 in a similar fashion to issue to paratroopers jumping at Ste. Mere-Eglise in World War II, Marines at Inchon and Tunnel Rats in Vietnam.
As a licensed collector of Curios and Relics, all I can say is have they no shame?