here we go again, the 'all concerned about our health and safety' approach

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/why-is-obama-administration-blocking-import-of-surplus-rifles

Why is Obama administration blocking import of surplus rifles?
August 17th, 2010 9:48 am
."The U.S. government opposed South Korea’s bid to sell hundreds of thousands of aging U.S. combat rifles to American gun collectors," Jung Sung-ki of The Korea Times reports.

"The ministry announced the plan last September as part of efforts to boost its defense budget, saying the export of the M1 Garand and carbine rifles would start by the end of 2009."

So why didn't they?

"The U.S. administration put the brakes on the plan, citing “problems” that could be caused by the importation of the rifles."

Problems? What problems?

"The problems the U.S. government cited were somewhat ambiguous, said an official at the Ministry of National Defense on condition of anonymity."

Oh, in other words, made up problems. The administration came up with baseless excuses about aging rifles that "could cause problems such as firearm accidents."

And they said that bad guys might get a hold of them!

The truth could not be simpler: Older rifles can be safely maintained and sold. Just ask the Civilian Marksmanship Program. I got my M1 Garand back when the Director of Civilian Marksmanship program was controlled by the Department of the Army and it remains a favorite gun.

And the bad guy excuse could be used to object to the sale of all guns everywhere. Meanwhile, they're denying an opportunity to good guys--you know, the ones the Founders deemed "necessary to the security of a free State"...

This is ridiculous, offensive and subversive.

It's also more proof of the anti-gun agenda the Obama administration has been forced by political realities to keep under wraps during his first term. The antis would have us believe the lie that he has expanded gun rights--the basic talking point they push is that he signed a law allowing for guns to be carried in National Parks.

What happened there was he was unwilling to derail a credit card bill where that provision was slipped in. Why was it done that way?

Because a Clinton-appointed federal judge sabotaged a Bush administration ruling providing for guns in parks under the transparent that recognizing unalienable rights requires an extended bureaucratic environmental impact study. And Obama, who played his part in the charade and did not direct an appeal, would have been perfectly happy to wait that out had his hand not been forced.

Add to this all those anti-gun nominations: Eric Holder, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan...

He may have erased his anti-gun wishlist from the White House website (an old tactic perfected by his ideological forebears), but his hostility to our right to keep and bear arms remains. He just doesn't dare show his hand. Yet.

It's up to us to keep it that way.

Let's push back. I have no idea what the best way to reverse this latest import ban decision would be, but I'm going to do some investigating. If anyone has any ideas on how to apply pressure, please share it.

Hopefully, this will not be the last word.


-

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/obama-bans-more-than-100-000-american-made-rifles

Obama Bans More than 100,000 American-Made Rifles
Opinion by The Volokh Conspiracy
(11 Hours Ago) in Society / Guns
By David Kopel
According to The Korea Times, the Obama administration has blocked efforts by the South Korean government to sell over a hundred thousand surplus M1 Garand and Carbine rifles into the United States market. These self-loading were rifles introduced in 1926 and 1941.
As rifles, they are especially well-suited to community defense in an emergency, as in the cases of community defense following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Along with AR-15 type rifles, the M1 rifles are the quintessential firearms of responsible citizenship, precisely the type of firearms which civic responsibility organizations such as the Appleseed Project teach people how to use.
According to a South Korean official, “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.”
Regarding the second objection, any firearm lawfully imported into the United States would eventually be sold by a Federal Firearm Licensee who, pursuant to the background check system imposed by Congress (and endorsed by the NRA) would have to contact federal or state law enforcement to verify that the gun buyer is not prohibited from possessing firearms.
Accordingly, the risk that the South Korean surplus guns might fall into the hands of gangsters or other bad people is exactly the same as with the sale of any other retail firearm in the United States. Notably, neither the M1 Garand nor the M1 carbine are concealable, and the M1 Garand is long, heavy, and bulky. Accordingly, the criminal utility of such guns is relatively low.
The second Obama administration objection is accidents. But in fact, increasing gun density in the United States has been associated with steeply declining rates of gun accidents. In 1948 there were .36 guns per person. (That is, about one gun for every three Americans.) By 2004, there was nearly one gun for every American. In 1948, there were 1.6 fatal gun accidents per 100,000 persons. By 2004, the rate had fallen by 86%, so that there were .22 fatal accidents per 100,000 persons. (For underlying data, see Appendix B of my amicus brief in Heller.)
Legally, it is indisputable that the guns are importable. Being over 50 years old, the rifles are automatically “Curios and Relics” according to federal law. 27 CFR section 478.11. Accordingly, they are by statutory definition importable. 18 USC section 925 (e)(1). Notwithstanding the law, the Obama administration has the ability to pressure the South Korean government to block the sale of the guns.
President Obama was elected on the promise that he supported individual Second Amendment rights. His administration’s thwarting of the import of these American-made rifles is not consistent with that promise.


-


Gunowners Should Expect the Worst
from a Lame-Duck Congress

President Obama has recently dropped his cagey and coy dissembling about his true “gun control” plans. In April of 2009 he once again made it completely clear that he was in favor of a renewed “assault weapon” ban. (Now available to watch here on JPFO)
Obama is no longer laying low on the issue. We also know where Obama’s socialist Supreme Court appointees Sotomayer (who voted against the McDonald decision), and almost certainly Kagan, stand on citizens owning firearms. Kagan is just another Sotomayer when it comes to 2A. Like Sotomayer, she waffled and said all the right things to gain her confirmation by the Senate. Do you really think Kagan would have voted in favor of Heller or McDonald?

No, who can now seriously doubt that Obama, and those who he’s appointed, are not deeply ingrained enemies of the Second Amendment?

Why this recent renewal of Obama’s true agenda? Up until now Obama knew that he did not have the votes in Congress to pass anti-gun legislation. “Gun control” is, at this time, a political non-starter. So he temporarily put on his sheep’s clothing and played the “moderate” on gun rights. This has well suited his actual wider purpose.

With an anticipated lame-duck session of Congress after the November elections, Obama’s strategy is certain to surface. In many ways it will be a “now or never” opportunity for him. It will also be a last gasp chance at bitter revenge from liberal anti-gun politicians who will have been rejected by an angry November electorate.

Few of the newcomers to Congress will have the slightest bit of sympathy for much of Obama’s agenda. After all, nearly every one of them will have been ushered in because of voters’ fury with the Obama promoted policies. These “newbies” won’t have the slightest inclination to go along with fresh “gun control” schemes.

So Obama truly has nothing to lose…and everything to gain…by pushing with all his might for huge and sweeping “gun control” schemes in the lame-duck session.

Additionally, for many Democrats (and even the more liberal Republicans) who do not face re-election this November, the writing is clearly on the wall. Very simply put: These “representatives” voted for Obamacare. They are also known to be pro-amnesty (or leaning that way) for illegal aliens. Many of them can hear the not-so-distant sound of their plush D.C. office doors slamming behind them on their way out the next time their names appear on a ballot.

Many Democrats (and some Republicans) must be thinking “I’m out of here anyway, either this coming November, or when I next run for re-election. So what have I possibly got to lose by voting for the gun control legislation I’ve secretly wanted all along?” There is a perverse logic at work here. This lame-duck session will likely be a “sour grapes” gathering like none we’ve seen in our lifetimes.

What are some of the things a lame-duck Congress might do to your gun rights? Think hard on these points:

1. The very most dangerous? What if one of the pro-Second Amendment Justices on the Supreme Court dies, or retires for health reasons? A lame-duck session of Congress could push through an anti-gun appointee with no more opposition than the Sotomayor or Kagan confirmations received. The stage will be set for the overturning of both the Heller and the McDonald decisions. Crazy and paranoid? Think again.

2. A renewed “Assault Weapons Ban”. It’s official: Obama wants it. Further sales of so-called “military patterned” rifles would be outlawed, and registration of existing rifles would almost certainly be mandated (as they were in California during the last AWB).

Who cares what the Supreme Court decisions of late have declared? A legal challenge could take several years to filter up to an Obama-stacked Supreme Court to be heard. Your previously unregistered semi-automatic is now on the books and in centralized computer data bases. Damage done. (The U.N. applauding gleefully, I might add.)

3. All used military brass could once and for all be ordered destroyed by a command of Congress. Don’t think the anti-gun cabal ignores ammunition re-loaders. Far from it. By striking economically at ammunition re-loaders, the anti-gun politicians know that they are punishing many of the truly hard core gun owners and 2A advocates. Or maybe the brass won’t be destroyed. Might it be passed along to the U.N. to be reloaded by “International Agencies” for enforcement purposes? Give the brass to the Blue Hats? (Again, U.N. cheers of support.)

4. Ammunition, gun powder, primers, bullets and factory brass could be burdened with huge increases in excise taxes and/or a license to purchase. Congress is desperate for tax revenues. Ammo is, after all, a “public health danger” isn’t it? (Obama and his crew could also use some of that money to further help the U.N. with its Small Arms Treaty.)

5. The U.N. could easily fast track the Small Arms Treaty and it might even be approved by a lame-duck Senate. Hillary Clinton has been busy with this one. She and Obama, and a whole pack of ardent “gun control” supporters, are in full agreement on this deeply anti-American treaty.

6. A lame-duck Congress could very well double (or triple) the size and authority of the goon squad BATFE. Of course this would all be done under the guise of “national security”. The utterly corrupt Mexican government is quite eager to get cozier with the BATFE. What if open gang warfare breaks out north of the border, and dozens of innocents are caught in the crossfire? Liberal politicians and bureaucrats will hysterically resurrect “The 90 Percent Lie”.

7. And, last but not least, gun show sales could be restricted to FFL holders only. The chance to buy unregistered firearms from other private citizens will cease. Required: Form 4473s and F.B.I. NICS Check (and accompanying fees) for every gun sold. The global “gun control” bandwagon continues on its merry way with the aid of burgeoning computerized databases. It cannot be said too often: register, then confiscate. Over and over and over again, history demonstrates this malevolent pattern. See, "Death by Gun Control", and "Innocents Betrayed".

Along with following your conscience and common sense with your time in the voting booth this November, any gun owner who doesn’t take this “window of opportunity” to stock up on guns or ammunition is being downright short sighted.

Politicians have access to ammunition sales volumes via the taxation of the manufacturers. The same goes for gun production volumes. Every new gun and box of ammunition that is bought by the citizenry of this nation is a “vote” for the Second Amendment, the Guardian of the Bill of Rights.

Encourage your friends and neighbors to buy guns and ammo NOW. Buy any and all firearms and ammunition you can afford. Do so as quickly and privately as you possibly can. Take proactive moves now, before a lame-duck Congress and this aggressively anti-American President closes the door even further on your right to protect the lives of yourself and your loved ones.