This week in Guns & Patriots...
There are reports out of South Korea in the Korea Times, and other outlets, that the long M-1 Garand hostage crisis will be over before June 25. As it stands right now, the South Korean defense ministry is warehousing tens of thousands of surplus M-1's from the 1950s. There were plans to sell the weapons to buyers in the United States.
Absent a change of heart from the State Department's import license office, there is a bill pending in both chambers of Congress that could solve the problem for all time. Rep. Cynthia Lummins (R.-Wyo.) and a mirror bill sponsored by Sen. Jon Tester (D.-Mont.) would amend the Arms Export Control Act to fix the problem through legislation.
The bill, H.R. 615, would declare weapons older than 50 years-old as "curio and relic" pieces. The effect would be to remove both the State and Defense department from any role in regulating guns already regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The bill is not likely to reach the president's desk, but that is not the point. The threat of the bill reaching the Senate floor for a vote – with more than 20 Democrats up for re-election, is a powerful one.
The pressure on the administration to approve the liberation of these hostage M-1's continue to build, not just from Congress and potential American purchasers. The South Koreans need to upgrade their weapons inventory as their neighbor to the North gets jumpy and bumpy.
Read the whole article at the Guns & Patriots website.