U.S. Government Blocking Return Of Surplus M-1 Garand Rifles From Korea
by Brian McCombie
Last year, South Korean military officials announced plans to sell off 86,000 surplus M1 Garand rifles and another 22,000 M1carbines. But will bureaucratic red tape from the U.S. side hamper these sales?
South Korea –-(AmmoLand.com)- Will the US Block Korea from shipping surplus Garands?
Those rifles had sat in South Korean warehouses for the last five decades, and could prove a treasure trove for military surplus retailers, collectors, and shooters. (see South Korea to sell 108,000 Garand Rifles to US Gun Collectors)
Recently, though, came news from South Korea that the sale of these M1 Garand’s, and another 22,000 M1 Carbines, was in a sort of bureaucratic limbo.
According to the Korea Times, “The U.S. government opposed South Korea’s bid to sell hundreds of thousands of aging U.S. combat rifles to American gun collectors…The [Ministry of National Defense] 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.”
However, “The U.S. administration put the brakes on the plan, citing ‘problems’ that could be caused by the importation of the rifles. The problems the U.S. government cited were somewhat ambiguous, said an official at the Ministry of National Defense on condition of anonymity.”
“The U.S. insisted that imports of the aging rifles could cause problems such as firearm accidents,” the official told Korea Times.
“It was also worried the weapons could be smuggled to terrorists, gangs or other people with bad intentions. We’re still looking into the reason why the U.S. administration is objecting to the sale of the rifles and seeking ways to resolve the problems raised.”
Time for some grass roots action: Contact your congressmen and senators an tell them to expedite this repatriation of American Made Rifles.