Guns.com 2/20/17 | by Chris Eger
A House measure introduced last week would override the Obama-era State Department’s embargo on thousands of M1 Carbines and Garands long blocked from import.
The legislation comes as the latest installment in an effort by Republican lawmakers to change the 2009 decision to block the importation of no less than 87,000 rifles donated to South Korea and now surplus to that country’s needs.
“These M1 models represent a significant piece of our military history and should be available to collectors in America to the extent that other legal firearms of the same make are routinely bought and privately owned,” said bill sponsor, U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., in a statement. “The State Department has no right to restrict Second Amendment liberties. Its policy is unnecessarily restrictive and puts a double-standard on these weapons, which originated within our borders.”
Collins’ bill, the Collectible Firearms Protection Act, has been filed as H.R. 1137. It would amend the Arms Export Control Act to allow selected U.S. made firearms listed as curios or relics to be brought into the country by a licensed importer without having to first garner the blessing of the Departments of State or Defense. Though narrowly tailored to the South Korean M1s, it would also allow similar repatriations from other countries.
The United Nations, Republic of Korea and U.S. flags fly in the background of a statue depicting Soldiers armed with
M1 rifles fending off a North Korean attack during the Korean War outside the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul.
(Photo: U.S. Army)
http://www.guns.com/2017/02/20/bill-filed-to-bring-south-korean-m1s-back-from-overseas/
