State Department Squirms On M1 Garand Imports

[Tory II]

"A lot of things have changed in the federal government since President Harry S. Truman put his famous "the buck stops here" sign on his desk. This week, Fox News reported that it couldn't get a straight answer from the State Department about its decision in March to disapprove the importation of more than 800,000 M1 Garand rifles and M1 carbines from South Korea.

According to Fox, the State Department claimed that the rifles might be used "for illicit purposes." But when asked to explain, State passed the buck to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which passed it to the Department of Justice, which passed it back to State.

The anti-gun Brady Campaign didn't hesitate to give Fox an answer, however. "Guns that can take high-capacity magazines are a threat to public safety," the group's Dennis Henigan told reporter Maxim Lott.

Of course, Henigan's response was factually flawed. The M1 Garand does not "take" a "high-capacity" magazine; its magazine is built in, and holds only eight rounds. That's three fewer than the 11 rounds necessary for a magazine to be restricted as a "large capacity" magazine under California's law, which the Brady Campaign calls a "model for the nation," or the federal ban of 1994-2004 (which the group still advocates as a fall-back position in the event that Congress doesn't impose something more severe).

Since sales of imported firearms are subject to the national instant background check, Henigan's position was also hypocritical. To justify not letting the M1s and carbines into the U.S., Henigan essentially took the position that the instant check is not enough to protect public safety. But at other times, Brady takes the position that public safety requires us to impose the same instant checks on sales of firearms by people who are not dealers.

Finally, the "public safety" fear of these guns is irrational. Today, Americans own more Garands and carbines than ever before. We also own more semi-automatic rifles in general than ever before, and more self-defense handguns with standard magazines that hold more than 10 rounds than ever before. Yet despite gun ban groups' predictions, the nation's violent crime rate is at a 35-year low." [National Rifle Association]

[Tory II]

Article wrote:

"Guns that can take high-capacity magazines are a threat to public safety," said Dennis Henigan of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "Even though they are old, these guns could deliver a great amount of firepower. So I think the Obama administration's concerns are well-taken.

Not true at all. Only an armed public can protect itself from our worst enemy, govt. An unarmed public is in danger of being slaughtered by its govt. Anywhere on the planet where people are not allowed to have guns you will find mass tragedy (tyranny and or oppression). The public needs to be armed with guns that can take high-capacity magazines (guns that can deliver a great amount of firepower).

The Obama administration (which claims to respect the 2nd amendment) has now given us the ability to honestly say and prove, at election time, it is against the 2nd amendment.

What Dennis Henigan, of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, doesn't want you to know is he is afraid those M1 Garands could be a threat to the safety of police and soldiers if our govt goes rogue.