Obama Bans Collector Rifles

(Senator Rand Paul) – Nearly 1 million American rifles.

Banned by a stroke of Barack Obama’s pen.

In a move unprecedented in American history, the Obama Administration quietly banned the re-importation of nearly one million American made M1 Garand and Carbine rifles.

The M1 Garand, developed in the late 1930’s, carried the United States through World War II seeing action in every major battle. General Patton at the time called the M1 Garand “the greatest battle implement ever devised.” The rifle is largely credited with giving American soldiers the advantage and securing victory for the allies.

During the Korean War, nearly one million of these rifles were brought to South Korea and left with the South Korean government afterward. Now, South Korea wants to give American gun collectors the chance to get their hands on this unique piece of history. A piece of American history that Barack Obama would like to see go down the memory hole.

That’s why I want as many Americans as possible to put themselves on record opposing this gun ban by signing the Official Firearms Freedom Survey the National Association for Gun Rights has prepared for you.

After World War II, the United States government sent millions of these rifles overseas to our allies and friends. Over the past 50 years, many of the countries we lent them to returned them to America to be bought and sold by firearms collectors.

This is nothing new.

Make no mistake; these rifles were made in America, by Americans, for Americans, to defend freedom on foreign shores. As a part of our history, they are greatly sought after by American shooters and collectors.

But according to Hillary Clinton’s State Department there is a danger they might “fall into the wrong hands.”

That they might, possibly, one day be used in a crime.

No mention of the hundreds of thousands of gun owners deprived of the opportunity to own an integral part of American history.

The State Department’s outrageous claims are nothing more than a thinly veiled ploy to distract from the real issue:

President Obama’s deep seated hatred for gun rights.

While his gun-grabbing base is giddy with praise at this back-door gun ban, law-abiding citizens across the United States are crying foul.

Let me be clear: at no time in U.S. history has the ownership of this firearm — or any part of this firearm — been illegal, restricted or banned.

Americans have collected World War II M1 Garand and Carbine rifles for decades. Now they are sold through the Civilian Marksmanship Program. You can even purchase a newly manufactured model from Springfield Armory that was made just a month or two ago.

And the M1 Garand’s caliber or capacity is no more dangerous than the millions of modern firearms owned by Americans across the country today.

As you can see, there is absolutely no justification for this unconstitutional gun ban.

This is just the latest in a series of anti-gun schemes from the Obama Administration:

• New BATFE regulations on semi-automatic rifles, requiring firearms dealers to act as an informant to anti-gun federal bureacrats if someone buys more than one rifle
• The Disarming American Citizens Act (H.R. 2159 in the last Congress) letting Attorney General Eric Holder revoke the Second Amendment rights of ANY American he chooses based on pure suspicion
• Notorious anti-gunners appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court and other senior administration positions

That’s why it is essential that Americans like you and I take a stand against the M1 Garand gun ban!

It has been common practice since the end of World War II to re-import these American made rifles from the foreign allies they were lent to during the war.

But the Obama Administration departs radically from the American tradition.

In fact, on top of banning American citizens from owning these historic firearms, Obama’s State Department is arranging for the destruction of nearly one million of them — ironically, at a time of ballooning federal deficits.

It’s an outrage!

These firearms — truly pieces of American history — rightly belong in the hands of U.S. citizens.