Congress May Force Legal Gun Owners to Make Their Guns Inoperable

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Boge Quinn

Congress May Force Legal Gun Owners to Make Their Guns Inoperable

The gun grabbers have already disarmed much of the
population and left many Americans defenseless at
a time when an armed citizenry is the best defense
against terrorism and crime, the U.S. Congress is
poised to impose another burdensome restriction on
Second Amendment rights.

It's called "demilitarization" and if a new bill
in the Senate passes as currently written it could
result in millions of innocent American gun owners
being branded as criminals without their
knowledge.

According to an alert issued by the National Rifle
Association, the Senate has just passed S. 1438,
the Department of Defense (DoD) annual
authorization bill, which contains a provision
that is of grave concern to hunters and sport
shooters.

Section 1062 of this bill gives the Secretary of
Defense the power to require "demilitarization" of
any "significant military equipment" that has ever
been owned by the DoD.

Warns the NRA "This would include all firearms
(such as the venerable M1, M1 Carbine, and Model
1911, as well as all Civilian Marksmanship Program
rifles, even "sporterized" surplus bolt-action
Springfields!), firearm barrels, ammunition, and
gun powder now legally in private hands.

"Demilitarization" the NRA explains, is the term
for rendering such items permanently inoperable,
and Sec. 1062 allows for this action to be carried
out either by the owner or a third party, with the
owner paying the cost, or by the DoD."

However, if the DoD decides that it should do the
job itself, it can also decide that it might cost
too much to return the now inoperable weapon and
can simply keep it and reimburse the rightful
owner only for the fair market scrap value of the
item.

In addition, this new requirement would force
private citizens to determine for themselves if an
item they own is subject to demilitarization, and
face criminal penalties if they fail to comply.

Says the NRA "The DoD would be under no obligation
to notify law-abiding citizens that items they
have lawfully owned for years, and perhaps that
their families have owned for generations, are
suddenly subject to forced demilitarization."

Considering the fact that U.S. military surplus
has been regularly-and legally-bought, sold, and
traded for centuries, countless Americans who own
items that could be subject to Sec. 1062.

"It is likely millions of law-abiding Americans
would be affected, and could unknowingly become
criminals overnight without having done anything
or having ever been informed," the NRA says.

Since the DoD already has the authority and
responsibility to demilitarize any item it sells
as surplus, there is absolutely no reason to seek
new authority to confiscate and destroy lawfully
sold and lawfully owned items that are now the
property of private citizens.

The NRA urges Americans to contact their U.S.
Senators at (202) 224-3121, and their U.S.
representative at (202) 225-3121, and urge them to
strike Sec. 1062 from S. 1438, the "National
Defense Authorization Act for FY 2002."

Says the NRA "The 24 members of the Senate Armed
Services Committee and the 60 members of the House
Armed Services Committee especially need to hear
from you. To find out if any of your lawmakers are
on either committee, you can use the "Write Your
Reps" tool found at NRAILA.org, or call the
Grassroots Division at (800) 392-8683."

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