GOP Take House, But Second Amendment Battle is Far From Over

We’re happy to see that the Republicans have taken control of the House of Representatives as the Grand Old Party as it is known tends to be friendlier to gun related issues. The people have spoke, and this wasn’t the result of some nefarious plot by the insidious gun lobby – which is how the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun organizations are painted in the mainstream media – to take control of the country. This was the will of the people, which includes hunters, shooters, collectors and just every day citizens that believe in the Second Amendment.

But the writing is on the wall, and we’re not out of the woods yet. Nor is it the time however to let down our guard. The Senate will still include a rogue’s gallery of anti-gun zealots including two Republicans: Senator-Elect Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), a co-sponsor in the U.S. House of Representatives of legislation to close the so-called gun show loophole, and Senator-Elect Dan Coast in Indiana had previously served in the U.S. Senate, voting for the Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban.

Key anti-gun Democrats retained their seats in the U.S. Senate as well, and these include Senators Chuck Schumer of New York and Barbara Boxer of California. New York was lso a special case as Kirsten Gillibrand was finally “elected” to the Senate (she had been appointed to fill Hillary Clinton’s seat, which she will now hold for two more years). Both Schumer and Gillibrand have been foes to gun owners, while Boxer has also been a supporter of gun control. The NRA-endorsed Christine O’Donnell was also defeated by Democrat candidate Chris Coons in Delaware, while Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), who was appointed to finish the term of former Senator Ken Salazar, was elected to a full term. He has co-sponsored gun show loophole legislation.

We happy that Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) was defeated in his re-election bid, as Feingold has had at what best can be described as a mixed record on gun related issues, including voting in favor of background checks at gun shows.

But now is the time to think to the future, but to be on guard today. Only this year the EPA attempted to ban lead ammunition, while the State Department stopped efforts to allow the importation of American M1 made rifles from South Korea. These are both back door gun bans, and while the same mainstream media that sees the NRA as a cabal of evildoers bent on turning America into a Wild West, turn a blind eye to these efforts. Instead the media tries to say that the Democrats and President Obama have done nothing to impose new restrictions.

Except for the attempt to ban lead ammo, the blocked importation of those M1 rifles and the appointment of two fiercely anti-gun rights Supreme Court Justices. So while this is a time to celebrate our wins with the House, we should be remain on guard.

Firing Back: Tale of Two Stories Proves Media Bias Against Guns

In the past month there were two notable stories that FirearmsTruth closely covered. Both stories involved American made guns, a foreign nation and calls to block the importation of these firearms. One made the mainstream media, stirred up all sorts of interest, resulted in coverage on the nightly news and even had political calls for action, while the other was barely a blip on the radar. Here is a look at back at these two stories and how it essentially proves the media bias against guns is all too alive and well.

The first story broke in August, and took weeks to gain any traction in the United States. This of course was about the efforts by South Korea to sell somewhere between 110,000 and 880,000 M1 Garand and M1 Carbine rifles. The story was ignored for weeks, and finally was reported on by The Washington Times and FoxNews. Kudos to both outlets for covering this story, but the question here is what took them so long?

One would think this story would garner more interest. The rifles were American made, desirable to collectors and valuable, but the media mostly ignored all facets of the story. There were no cries from The New York Times or The Washington Post that the State Department was stopping the re-importation of America goods, and no explanation even about why the guns couldn’t return home. The argument by the State Department of the guns being dangerous was cited, and the media had nothing more to say. In the end the story simply died.

Old soldiers might fade away, but rifles – even those of great value to collectors (both monetary and historically) it seem will only rust away.

And yet another story actually had the media buzzing – even if there was far less there that was actually “new.” This was the ABC News “breaking” piece that reported on a report from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which of course was based on data from the ATF. As we previously noted, this was little more than hearsay, as it was a report of a report based on third party data. Worse, this report used the parts of the data that helped the argument from Mayors Against Illegal Guns while ignoring other important facts – notably the number of guns actually sent to the United States for tracing.

However, this story was picked up by the media left and… well, left, and cited over and over as “proof” that American guns are a real problem. Never mind that the information was old, never mind that report was biased. It was “proof” for so many outlets, and for anti-gun zealots such as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. When you have “proof” do you really need the truth?

These two stories did PROVE one thing. There is a continuing bias against guns by the mainstream media, both in how news is reported and on what is not reported.

Gun Collecting: What the Ban on the Importation of M1 Rifles From South Korea Means to Collectors

The history of the M1 rifle is well documented, so there is no need to retell the gun’s famous history. The truth is that it has become a highly sought after collectible. Over the past decade the prices of the M1 has increased at a pace greater than almost any other military firearm. Read more

Still More on Those Destroyed M1 Rifles From the Movies

The rumors circulated, there was endless hearsay, but finally the truth has come out. We had heard from a colleague that Dale Dye had suggested that the rifles used in the making of HBO’s The Pacific were destroyed following production. Then we spoke to Dale Dye, who noted that this was not the case. It was the weapons from the film The Great Raid, but Captain Dye suggested we check with the film’s armorer John Bowring of Paradox FX Pty. Ltd.

John confirmed that the guns in question came not from The Great Raid, but were in fact from The Thin Red Line. Here is the straight word from John Bowring on those rifles. Read more

More on Destroyed M1 Rifles

First it was The Pacific, and then it was The Great Raid. Finally, after some digging we got to the truth. It turns out that the M1 and M1 Carbines that were destroyed following the production of a movie were actually those used in the Oscar nominated film The Thin Red Line, and that was more than a decade ago.

This was confirmed to FirearmsTruth by the film’s armorer John Bowring of Paradox FX Pty. Ltd., who stated the guns destroyed by the Australian government included “335 M1 Garands and Carbines.” To survive a war and be destroyed for a film, sad irony.

World News Heard Now Hears, and Reports on, M1 Story

Finally, others in the media are starting to pick up on the M1 story, and we thought we were the only reporters looking into the issue. Mary Bargeman at World News Heard Now has posted an interesting read titled “More Proof of Anti-Constitutional Agenda with Gun Sale Nix.”

As much of the mainstream media has gone out of its way to note that President Obama hasn’t instituted new anti-gun legislation, it is nice to see someone report that the administration is no friend of the gun lobby. In fact, this is the latest proof that the Obama administration is actually hostile to gun owners. Read more

Mainstream Media Finally Picks Up M1 Story, Brady Campaign Notes Concern

After nearly two weeks of silence from the mainstream media, FoxNews.com has noted that the Obama administration has blocked the importation of M1 rifles from South Korea. According to the story from FoxNews, the South Koreans wanted to sell one million M1 rifles to gun collectors in America – but numbers closer to 100,000 had previously been reported in the Korean media.

Not surprisingly, the anti-gun zealots have supported the move to block the importation of the guns. FoxNews.com quoted Dennis Henigan of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence as noting:

“Guns that can take high-capacity magazines are a threat to public safety. 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.” Read more

The Hill Calls Obama “Gun-Friendly” – Is This Really the Case?

Should Democrats be upset that Obama hasn’t stood up to National Rifle Association? That’s the tone of a piece for The Hill by Bob Cusack, who quotes Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) as saying “I can’t even get a hearing (on gun control issues).” This has been a long and continued cry from the left-leaning media, which has repeatedly noted that the Democrats fear bring up the issue of guns. Read more

Firing Back: MSM Fails to Pick up on M1 Rifle Story

Last week The Korea Times reported that the Obama administration has blocked efforts by the South Korean government to sell more than 100,000 vintage M1 Garand and M1 Carbine rifles in the United States. The rifles, which were actually produced in America, were supplied to the South Koreas during the Korean War. So far the mainstream media in the United States has been silent on the issue. But should we really be the least bit surprised?

The MSM has gone out of its way to note that the Democratic controlled congress, along with President Obama have not made any effort to draft new gun legislation. However, there has been no mention of this ban of the importation of the M1 rifles. The irony is that these rifles, which were the first semi-automatic rifles generally issued to infantry soldiers, were in fact made in the United States. Thus these are not a foreign-made import firearm. These guns could be seen as “simply coming home,” and they would appeal to collectors. Prices of M1s have gone up dramatically in recent years. So why the holdup?

As we previously noted, The Korea Times reported that concerns from the United States government included the age of the rifles, and that gangs or terrorists could obtain these weapons. The latter is of course ridiculous as the weapons are pre-World War II technology, and again these would hardly be sold at bargain basement prices – thus not even close to the first choice for either terrorists or gangbangers.

Of course the real question is why isn’t the American media bothering to report on this issue?

Is the United States Blocking Importation of American Guns?

In an interesting twist, it seems that American M1 rifles – the type of rifle that helped win the Second World War – are potentially being kept out of collectors’ hands in the United States. Our friends at Ammoland.com are reporting that the rifles had been in South Korean warehouses since the end of the Korean War, and the South Korean government was looking to sell to firearms to collectors, only to face opposition from the American government. In total there were somewhere around 86,000 M1 Garands and 22,000 M1 Carbines that South Korea had been looking to have imported into the United States. Read more

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