Obama's re-importation gun ban a real head-scratcher

The latest Second Amendment slam by the Obama Administration goes beyond just firing a squib.

Try a pure blank. No powder. No primer. No sense.

On Thursday – with all the pomp, circumstance and Rose Garden ceremony Obama could muster – the President issued an executive (dis)order prohibiting the re-importation of U.S.-made military weapons.

It is important to take note of several points. Make that vital to take note of several points.

What we are talking about here are not the so-called “black rifles” of Vietnam fame nor the M4 variant of Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, either.

Nope. What we have Obama/Joe Biden/Eric Holder seeking to gun down is the re-importation of 60- to 70-year-old M1 carbines and (chiefly) M1 Garands.

That's the stuff our fathers, uncles and grandfathers used in the Pacific and Atlantic theaters of World War II and a few years later on the Korean Peninsula.

At some point a goodly number of these weapons were passed off to our allies around the globe.

In all, more than 30 countries have at one time or another relied on the Garand as their chief battlefield rifle, though absolutely none since Obama was in diapers.

Among the friendlies who were given these Garands was South Korea.

And for the past several decades these greased-soaked rifles were collecting dust in South Korean military warehouses.

South Korea recognized a few years back it didn't have much need for antiquated semi-automatic rifles that can handle no more than eight rounds, weighs in at a hefty 9 ½ pounds on the light side to as much as 11 ½ pounds on the chunky side, and firing a rather robust and certainly large caliber cartridge that greaty limits how many rounds a soldier or Marine could carry.

Even Wikipedia notes that some military and armament experts call the Garand's gas-operation system “archaic” by modern weaponry status.

So with an inventory it doesn't need and a knowledge that tens to hundreds of thousands of American gun collectors and competitive rifle shooters would eagerly sop up the Garands, South Korea offered to return some 87,000 Garands.

Initially the Obama Administration said “no” before it said “yes” before saying “no” again on Thursday.

All without providing even a scintilla of evidence that re-imported American-made M1 carbines – much less M1 Garands – from ally South Korea have been or would ever likely be used in gun crimes.

Indeed, just the opposite.

Yep, so much so that back in 1986 when a similar re-importation offer caught the eye of President Ronald Reagan and Congress there was scant opposition.

Not even, by the way, from then-U.S. Senator and avid anti-gunner Ted Kennedy who fully understood that Garands were not and never would be, a criminal's weapon of choice.

Consequently, Garands are being sold to the shooting public every day by the Civilian Marksmanship Program, a quasi-public/private organization that promotes responsible firearms instruction through various programs and competitive matches.

These matches are held throughout the United States under a set of rigorous rules and safety standards. A series of John Garand rifle matches is conducted locally by the Crooked Creek Conservation Club in Ashtabula County's Hartsgrove Township.

And even though more than 6 million Garands were eventually made a goodly portion of them had and have seen better days. Thus a marksman who wants a serviceable firearm for use in competition will assemble a “shooter” from two or more used Garands.

Meanwhile, collectors vie for the most arcane variants, hoping to add to their gun vaults rifles of some vintage and minute difference.

As a result, good-quality Garands are becoming increasingly expensive to come by and just as truthfully, increasingly difficult to find.

So now we have messieurs Obama, Biden and Holder lashing out at firearms that pose virtually no criminal threat simply because they can, and equally dumb because they are frustrated at not being able to secure Congressional approval for more strict, comprehensive gun control laws.

Talk about your petulant, spoiled bullies. This trio takes the all-time prize.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net