After previously approving the lawful importation of nearly one million antique American made M1 rifles from South Korea to the United States, the Obama administration suddenly revoked the authorization thereby denying the importation of these rifles. The administration’s justification for banning the import of these firearms relies upon the same false and disproven arguments used to justify the “assault weapons” ban back in 1994 and reflects current calls by the anti-Second Amendment crowd to restore and expand the ban. These same bogus claims could also be used by the State Department to justify their denial of the lawful export of semi-automatic rifles. The previous “assault weapons” ban regulated detachable magazines with a capacity greater than 10-rounds. Not only does the M-1 not have a detachable magazine, its internal fixed-magazine can accept no more than 8-rounds.
Denying the importation of these rifles comes just after the White House touted its progress on reforming and improving export controls. How these reforms would impact the lawful export of firearms and ammunition products remains to be seen. NSSF is calling for a congressional hearing to investigate this ban.
