Eliot Engel: Ban parts kits, go after C&R...for Mexico's sake.

[RevDisk]

Makes me want to cry, really.   

You've got the arm of the government that is truly charged with protecting us from all enemies, foreign and domestic, essentially smuggling arms in (legally) for civilian use.  They do it because it increases marksmanship of the lay population, which is good for the skills of new recruits as well as an arguable invasion deterrent.

Then you've got another arm of the government who has a domestic-only charter to protect us from domestic enemies, involved with curtailing the supply of weapons to law abiding and background-verified citizens.  This arm would happily strangle the Army's means of supplying the ODCMP if they had the clout.

Really tells you who's on what side...

The motto of the US Army is "This We'll Defend."

The BATFE officially does not have a motto, but made the news when it started using "Always Think Forfeiture" as a training slogan.  Leathermans were handed out to trainees with said engravings.  When Congress inquired into the matter, the BATFE stopped distributing the Leatherman tools.

The stated mission of the US Army is to defend America.  Part of that task is assisting in civilian marksmenship, as specified by 1903 War Department Appropriations Act and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996.  If the US Army is tasked with supplying arms to the CMP, by the gods, such weapons will be delivered by any means allowed by law. 

The stated mission of the BATFE is to "perform the dual responsibilities of enforcing Federal criminal laws and regulating the firearms and explosives industries", according to their web site.


Very different missions.  But yes, both are rather clear in their intentions.

[stevelyn]

Assault weapons are being smuggled in bulk from U.S. border states to Mexico where they are used by narco-traffickers to fuel a drug war that is killing Mexican law enforcement and other officials at alarming rates.

An absolute bald-faced lie.

Why in the hell would they go to all the trouble of filling out a 4473 and going through a NICS check that may likely reject them when they can bypass that process and get full military dressed rifles from south of the border bananna republics or even the Mescan army that are willing to sell them to them at a far cheaper price?

[HankB]

Italian and Greek M1s (and some Danish, more further down) were made with tooling provided by Uncle Sam, but manufactured over there.

And yet my CMP Greek-return service grade M1 Garand clearly says "Springfield Armory" on the receiver, a clear indication that it was built by the famous US armory of the same name.

The Italians indeed made M1s, and the Breda / Beretta Garands are generally well-regarded.

The Danes refitted many of their M1s with VAR barrels, which have a good reputation for accuracy. Greece refinished many of their M1s with an ugly black finish and replaced the wood with some ugly local lumber. So both countries refurbished and rebuilt the rifles, as needed. But if you have a source saying that Denmark and Greece actually undertook the manufacture of M1 Garands, please cite it.

[Viking]

An absolute bald-faced lie.

Why in the hell would they go to all the trouble of filling out a 4473 and going through a NICS check that may likely reject them when they can bypass that process and get full military dressed rifles from south of the border bananna republics or even the Mescan army that are willing to sell them to them at a far cheaper price?

Dontcha know? In the US, you can buy fully automatic weapons on every street corner. I know this, because the newspapers over here told me. They would never lie to me, would they?

[Manedwolf]

Greece refinished many of their M1s with an ugly black finish and replaced the wood with some ugly local lumber.

What is with Greeks and trees? They use crappy wood on rifles and put pine tar in wine...

[Gewehr98]

Hank, I get my information from mostly CMP-related sites, as well as all the dead tree products the ATF so graciously stuffs in my mailbox.

If you're looking to pick a fight with me, take it to PM and I'll be more than happy to engage.

My pain/cancer meds aren't working particularly well today, so I'm in rare form.

Could I have made a mistake with respect to Greek M1 Garands?  Oh, probably.

M1 Garands found overseas have a plethora of channels that got them there.

If you have a Greek M1 Garand with a USGI Springfield receiver, I can certainly believe it, especially if it came back through Anniston. If the Army brought back their old M1 Garands as loaned to Greece, then sold them via DCM/CMP channels, they're safe, just like the M1 Carbines mentioned earlier in this thread.  It doesn't mean that SoG, Century, and other milsurp/C&R folks can get their grubby little mitts on them, but that's how it goes.  Look at all those Haitian and Cuban M1 Garands that the milsurp dealers would love to buy and resell.

I'm not in the mood to play games.  Go google your own sources, then report back. Who knows, you might just bump into Scott Duff or Ed Clancy in the process. They've forgotten more about M1 Garands than I'll ever hope to know.

[HankB]

Gewehr98 -

Chill.

Since when is disagreement the same as picking a fight? 

[digitalandanalog]

I says we gotta keep those full auto Mausers out of drug thugs hands.