[shooterx10]

We Want Our Rifles Back!
By Jennifer Freeman

The United States government is denying the request of law-abiding citizens to buy back military surplus M14s citing international agreements that would make such a program, "problematic."

We can only presume that the referred agreement was made during the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade of Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects in July 2001. As referenced in a follow up article on NewsMax, "Members also agreed to place special emphasis on post-conflict situations, to destroy illicit or surplus weapons as necessary, and to act responsibly in export, import, transit and retransfer of weapons." Also suggested at the conference was, "'voluntary' collection of small arms and the confiscation of "illegal" weapons."

Needless to say, this type of agreement with the United Nations or other foreign entity poses a serious threat to the citizens and the sovereignty of the United States of America. As citizens we have the God-given right to keep and bear arms to defend ourselves and to preserve this nation in the event of a foreign governmental installation (i.e., tyranny). These rights are documented and recognized in our Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights.

It was the law-abiding, taxpaying citizens of the United States of America that purchased these firearms for our military's use. And the law-abiding, taxpaying citizens should have the option of buying these firearms back from the government. The government being by the people, of the people, and for the people. It is not up to the United Nations to determine whether or not American citizens should have the option of retaining what is rightfully ours.

We must also presume that attempts to ban semi-automatic rifles, incorrectly dubbed "assault weapons" is a further attempt of certain politicians to make progress in achieving the U.N.'s goal of total disarmament. :cuss:

Clearly politicians who introduce and support U.N. disarmament programs do not recognize the people of the United States as citizens whose God-given rights are acknowledged by the U.S. Constitution - the law of the land. Rather, they view us as subjects who have no rights and whose opinions are of no consequence. This is evidenced in the continual introduction of gun-ban legislation year after year with no regard whatsoever for the safety and sovereignty of the American people.

It is time, therefore, for gun owners to inform President Bush of our position on this and related issues. We encourage you to write to President Bush and advise him of the following:

# United States citizens do not report to the United Nations and we do not recognize any agreements that would supercede our Constitutional Rights. Considering that the United Nations is devoted to total disarmament, we recommend that the United States terminate its participation in the United Nations. As such we support the American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003 - H.R. 1146.

# The term "assault weapon" is erroneous in its reference to semi-automatic rifles - Rifles of the type that have been commercially available since 1896. These rifles fire one round for every single pull of the trigger. As such we support the Sunset of the "Assault Weapons" ban. And, we oppose any additional or continuing restrictions on semi-automatic rifles including S. 1034, H.R. 143, and H.R. 2038.

# We support a civilian buy back program that would allow law-abiding citizens to purchase military surplus firearms, including the M14, despite what dismay this may cause the United Nations.

Remember to send your letter to:

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
202-456-1111 or 202-456-1414
Fax: 202-456-2461

80 million angry gun owners is more problematic than breaking an anti-Constitutional agreement with the U.N.

Here is the link. (http://www.sierratimes.com/03/06/25/libbelles.htm)

[Augustwest]

Would that most of those 80 million gun-owners were less apathetic...

[Mark Tyson]

Yeah, a disturbing percentage of those 80 million gun owners will sell the rest of out because we don't "need" military style weapons. Someone should ask them if they truly "need" to hunt or shoot clay pigeons.

Retch.

[2dogs]

they view us as subjects

And that pretty well sums it up.:( :fire:

[Old Fuff]

I think that part of the problem with original, military M-14's is that they have the capability of being altered to full-automatic by simply adding a few parts. Consequently the old BATF (now ATF&E) took the position that "once an automatic, always an automatic" and therefore they couldn't be re-imported. I believe in some cases such rifles were stripped, and the parts, less the frame were imported and assembled on new receivers that weren't milled to take the full-auto parts. I would ask, "if this was done in the past, why can't it be done now?"

And yes, if importation is being stopped because of some agreement with the United Nations - or anyone else - I would like to see some specifics. While writing Mr. Bush, ask some questions.

[alan]

Old Fluff and shooter10x:

Re the piece you posted, shooter 10x, while there is some question as to the availablity, not to mention the allegedly sad condition of any "surplus M-14 rifles, the fact??? that members of the genre are being sold or provided to domestic LE, raises questions as to the above, might these "international agreements" in ENGLISH, be spelled UN BULL??????, or simply BULL??????

Old Fluff: Re automatic fire capability of the M-14 rifle, the original examples did have this capability. It was found, by the military, that in full automatic mode of fire, the damned things were virtually uncontrollable. Seems that their approximately 10# weight, BAR's weighed about 20# loaded, wasn't enough, though some people complained that they were to heavy to carry, they weighed about the same as the M-1 Rifle did.

Anyhow, I believe that it was The Ordinance Dept. that came up with the proceedure eventually utilized to not only REMOVE full automatric fire capability, but to render it very difficult to restore. Not only was the substitution of parts involved, but if memory serves, 7 individual welds were specified. Seems as if a whole lot more than the simple "replacement of a few parts" would be involved in automatic fire capability restoration. Of course, there is then the following question. Are the necessary parts availble??

[Sergeant Bob]

IIRC, didn't Clinton send most of the surplus M-14's overseas, then they were banned for import even if demilled? Will have to look for some linky's. Does anyone else remember this?

[Sergeant Bob]

Estonia 9 Jan 40,500 M14 rifles; 1,328,300 7.62mm ball ammo; 1,000,000 7.62mm blank ammo; 81,219 7.62mm tracer ammo
380,000 5.56mm tracer ammo; EDA Army free

Lithuania 9 Jan 40,000 M14 rifles; 500,000 7.62mm blank ammunition; 1,500,000 7.62mm ball ammunition- EDA Army free

Arms Sales Monitor No. 37 (10 April 1998) (http://www.fas.org/asmp/library/asm/asm37.pdf)

At that time the deals were pending and could be disapproved by congress. I don't think they were disapproved.

[Standing Wolf]

It's time and long past time to deport the United Nations to Zimbabwe.

[Moparmike]

Yup. Its time to kick the United Nutcases out of the United States. Has been for some time now.

I dont know which to kick out first. Kalifornia, or the United Nutcases:D . Anyone know where to start?

[Old Fuff]

Alan:

You are right about the technical points concerning full-automatic fire and the M-14 rifle. The problem is that once the BATF had made a ruling they wouldn't change it. Their position across-the-board was, and I think still is, "Once a machine gun always a machine gun." Modifications to the receiver satisfied the Army, but not the BATF.

[4v50 Gary]

Hurrah for Jennifer Freeman & the Sierra Times! :cool:

[alan]

Old Fluff:

Typical of the bureaucracy, isn't it? Don't bother us with such mundane considerations as with the world isn't flat, and 2 + 2 = 4. Look what happened to Galileo. All he did was to look through a crude telescope, and publically state what he had, in fact, seen.

While the BATF, with or without the E didn't then exist, the Inquisition did. Some might be goven to wonder as to which was worse.

[Moparmike]

*Dramatic Music* Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!!! Our chief weapon is surprise, surprise and fear...

:D:cool: :D :cool:


At least you could shoot the inquisitors. The Bureau of Anally-retentive Terroristic Freedom Encroachers comes heavily armed. Usually in Condition 0 with hair triggers.

[CasualShooter]

Standing Wolf,
It's time and long past time to deport the United Nations to Zimbabwe.
That's a Great Idea! I'll second your motion. :D

[jimpeel]

Sound file (http://bau2.uibk.ac.at/sg/python/Sounds/aiff/spanish.aiff)

[Old Fuff]

Alan:

One has to understand the mindset of that agency (if they have such a thing). The 1968 G.C.A. focused a lot on "good guns," which were those obviously met for "sporting purposes," with sporting purposes to be defined as narrowly as possible. Guns with a military background were "evil guns," and should be discouraged and kept out of the country as much as possible.

Some years ago Interarms found itself with several hundred war-surplus 1911-A1 pistols that were in a warehouse in England. They were in fact brand new. They tried to re-import them back into the United States but the BATF said "no" even though a few hundred, more or less, .45's wouldn't have mattered given the number already in circulation.

So Interarms stripped the guns, brought in the parts less frames, assembled the parts on new commercial frames, and marketed them under the name "Silver Cup."

Rules you know ......

[Cosmoline]

To my knowledge, the US was not a signatory to any agreement out of the 2001 conference. Nothing was ratified by the Senate from that conference. There was a feel-good statement produced by the conference, but no treaty that we were part of.

I suspect the culprit is our own idiotic laws and regulations. Which is another reason I'd like to send the agency formerly known as the BATF over to the nation formerly known as Zaire. The UN can stay here--they're good for laughs. The feds stopped being funny when they started killing people and throwing them in the prison for having shotguns that were too short.

[alan]

Old Fluff:

I may be thickheaded but some things simply and plainly do not make sense, and or constitute open invitations to bureaucratic abuse. What used to pass for my "engineering background" is perhaps at fault. This sporting purposes business, nowhere in the law being defined, so far as I know, is a prime example thereof. The BATF is another, other than respecting their collection of alcohol and tobacco taxes, which amounts to their opening the envelope that contains the check, sent be the maker.

jimpeel:

Perhaps I didn't listen carefully enough, but I couldn't understand the sound file.

[Moparmike]

In the next "opression" thread, remind me to put that .wav from Holy Grail about opression and such.:D :scrutiny:

Try this:

[Old Fuff]

alan:

I lifted this from the ATF website. The 1968 GCA is filled with "sporting" or "nonsporting" references. This is just one example:

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Firearms Technology Branch, Room 6450
650 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20226
(202) 927-7910

Important Restrictions

Licensed collectors may lawfully import curio or relic firearms other than surplus military firearms, nonsporting firearms, and NFA weapons. [A surplus military firearm is defined as one that belonged to a regular or irregular military force at any time. Alteration of the firearm does not change its status.

Therefore, a sporting firearm with a surplus military frame or receiver is a surplus military firearm, because a frame or receiver is classified as a firearm as described in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3).] Surplus military firearms are generally prohibited from importation under 18 U.S.C. § 925(d)(3).

However, 18 U.S.C. § 925(e) authorizes licensed importers (FFL type 08 or 11) to import surplus military rifles, shotguns, and handguns classified as curios or relics; provided that such handguns are generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes.

Nonsporting handguns are those pistols and revolvers that do not meet size and safety prerequisites, or which do not accrue a qualifying score on ATF Form 4590, "Factoring Criteria for Weapons." Surplus military firearms classified as curios or relics must be in their original military configuration to qualify for importation

nonsporting firearms, (and so on .... and on ... and on.)

[SaintofKillers]

One point Id like to make is since when should I have to buy these rifles anyway? I already paid for those rifles, WITH MY TAX DOLLARS the 'gumint' should be driving around and handing the damn things out.:banghead: :banghead: :cuss: :cuss: :fire: :fire: :barf: :barf:

[alan]

Old Fluff:

Re your citations, interesting stuff, points taken, however it seems that the rules were changed later on, or by more recent legislation. Possibly I should check the C&R list myself, but have the Yougoslav M-48 Mauser Rifles made the list?

Also, at the risk of beating a dead horse, "mention" is one thing, a specific definition is another. What is, for instance, the rational basis for the BATF Point System, particularly respecting rifles? Then exactly what might it be that constitutes "sport", as in sporting use or sporting purpose, in the first place? Later on, there comes that business of "genereally recognized (by whom) as suitable for sporting purposes, or readilly adaptable thereto". So far as I know, nowhere in the law is this "readilly adaptable" business defined.

I have long been curious concerning the following. Were such things as this Point System specifically authorized in the legislation, or is it the end product of some bureaucrats wet dreams, the sort of foolishness that we get from things like "..and the secretary or his delegate shall promulgate regulations ..., which one can find in GCA'68?

In an earlier post, you made mention of the need to understand the mindset of the BATF. From where I sit, perhaps on/in a "bad chair", their mindset could be described as follows. That they are the Kings and or the rulers of all they see, and that the rest of us must grovel in the mud at the toe of their jackboots, hoping for sufference.

It might have been Lyndon Johnson who observed the following. It is not so much the good ends that might be obtained from the proper operadtion/enforcement of the law, it is the bad ends obtained from the improper operation/enforcement of the laws that must be guarded against. All to often , it is our Congress Critters that so blatantly fail in this regard.

Perhaps I've had a bad day.

[EOD Guy]

A couple of things to remember. Regardless of a couple of posts to this thread, all M14 rifles in government stocks are capable of full automatic fire with just the addition of a couple of parts which are readily available. It's a 10 minute job for any unit armorer. There were no modifications made to convert any M14's to semi-auto fire only. There was one rifle that I know of that was specifically manufactured as a semi auto rifle for competition use. The BATF still tried to get it destroyed and was only stopped when the owner beat the ATF in court. There was a proposal to modify some rifles for release to civilian shooters through the DCM but that proposal was shot down and never was implemented.

Second, the M14 is still a currently issued rifle and there is no surplus. The military can't meet their current needs with available stocks.

The petition that has been circulating lately is an old one and is just BS with no basis in fact.

[alan]

EOD GUY:

Re one part of your post: "all M14 rifles in government stocks are capable of full automatic fire with just the addition of a couple of parts which are readily available. It's a 10 minute job for any unit armorer. There were no modifications made to convert any M14's to semi-auto fire only", please advise me if it turns out to be that I'm all wet on this.

At the time when the M-14 rifle, originally designed as a selective fire weapon, it had through operation of a mechanical switch, full automatic fire capability, was "re-worked or modified" to fire semi-automatic only, not only were parts changed out, but a number of welds, 7 as I recall, were specified.

Assuming that the proceedure specified was followed, that could well be a large question, seems like restoration of automatic fire or selective fire capability would amount to a lot more than "the addition of just a couple of readily available parts", or the "10 minute job for a unit armorer". How many M-14's might be available, and or the condition of same, while interesting, are another matter entirely, as is the status of the petition you mentioned.

By the way, the position of those wonderful folks over at BATF, with or without the lately added "E", regarding these "readily available parts" is another thing. Remember how the sale and or possession of certain parts for M-16/AR-15 Rifles became "problematic", spelled illegal?

[EOD Guy]

alan,

What the military did was to issue most M14 rifles configured as semi-automatic by removing the selector switch. The kits to restore the rifles were issued with the rifles but were kept in the unit arms room for use if needed and approved by military authorities. The seven (?) weld process was proposed by the Army for converting rifles to semi auto for release through the DCM for competition. The program was cancelled for political reasons (RFK and MLK assassinations) and never reinstated. Also, the BATF never approved the conversion.

My sources are personal experience, discussions with people in military marksmanship programs and some that are involved in the CMP. I have also seen a couple of articles and an Army Regulation concerning the proposed release through the DCM.

[alan]

EOD:

Re your reference to the shooting of JFK and MLK, they were shot with BOLT ACTION RIFLES, no? Isn't the gutlessness of our political types truly amazing?? As to "not approved by the BATF", like naughty children given a can of gasoline and matches, would they know the difference.

Once upon a time, when I used to shoot rifles at Camp Perry, one year I wandered out there to shot the NTT and some team matches, part of The Nationals. I was issued an M-14 Rifle at Erie Ordinance Depot, just past the far and of the Vale Range, the western most range at Perry.

This rifle had no selector switch on it, and interestingly, as I recall, there was a port at the right rear of the action, just aft of the reward most point of op rod travel. It appeared that this port was filled with weld material. I didn't take the rifle down, so I cannot say what else might have been done to the thing, re mode of fire. It shot straighter than I could hold.

Thanks for your input.

Re proposed legislation, the claimed good endings that would be obtained given proper operation/enforcement of some particular law, must be viewed against the context of the very bad endings obtained as a result of improper operation/enforcement of that same legislation. Also, overly broad grants of power and or authority, sooner or later, are directed against the grantor, by the grantee.

[Brian Dale]

Second, the M14 is still a currently issued rifle and there is no surplus. The military can't meet their current needs with available stocks.
What happened to all of them? Have they just been worn out and used up over the past 40 years?

[alan]

In a manner seemingly typical of this nations government, and it's bureaucracy, it appears that significant numbers of M-14 Rifles were sold/given to some of our alleged allies in Europe. References to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia or some of these comes to mind. Supposedly some have been provided to domestic Law Enforcement, I do not know how many. Finally, and I could be wrong here, some number of them were "fed to Captain Crunch", a destruction device, which I believe was located at Anniston Army Dept., Anniston Alabama. It is my understanding that significant numbers of other firearms were utilized as "feed" for this animal too.

In any event NONE were ever sold to civilians, due to the fact that Treasury Dept (BATF) claimed that they were "machineguns", even they they supposedly, and there is some question re this, had been modified to remove this capability.

[Sergeant Bob]

alan References to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia or some of these comes to mind.

Are these the references you're thinking about? There were also about 120,000 sent to the Balkans.

Sergeant Bob Estonia 9 Jan 40,500 M14 rifles; 1,328,300 7.62mm ball ammo; 1,000,000 7.62mm blank ammo; 81,219 7.62mm tracer ammo

Lithuania 9 Jan 40,000 M14 rifles; 500,000 7.62mm blank ammunition; 1,500,000 7.62mm ball ammunition- EDA Army free

Arms Sales Monitor No. 37 (10 April 1998)

[Sergeant Bob]

Correction to my aboove post, it's the Baltics, not the Balkans.

Around 1995, largescale grants and sales of small/light arms began occurring (see appendix 2). In the past few years (1995-early 1998), over 300,000 rifles, pistols, machine guns and grenade launchers have been offered up, including:

---158,000 M16A1 assault rifles (principally to Bosnia, Israel, Philippines)

---124,815 M14 rifles (principally to the Baltics and Taiwan)

U.S. Policy on Small/Light Arms Exports (http://www.fas.org/asmp/library/reports/AAAS.htm)

[jimpeel]

There has never been an assassination, or an assassination attempt, perpetrated through the use of a semi-auto weapon in the United States.

Andrew Jackson attempt, Flintlock handgun
Lincoln, percussion handgun
Garfield, percussion handgun
McKinley, revolver
T. Roosevelt attempt, revolver
F. Roosevelt attempt, revolver
Truman attempt, revolver
J. Kennedy attempt, explosives
J. Kennedy, bolt-action rifle
R. Kennedy, revolver
King, bolt-action rifle
Lee Harvey Oswald, revolver
Ford attempt Fromme, revolver
Ford attempt Moore, revolver
Reagan attempt, revolver

If one wants to count Malcolm X, there has been. He was shot with a shotgun, .45 auto, and 9mm.

[Brian Dale]

Thanks, Alan and Sergeant Bob; that's a tenth of 'em. Do you give these examples as representative of a pattern? Were we also sending them to the RVN and Thailand, Israel and Egypt, Greece and Turkey, and elsewhere?

The web site for the Springfield Armory National Historic Site (the Government arsenal, not the present-day company with the rights to the name) shows almost 1.4 million M14s manufactured between 1958 and 1964.

http://www.nps.gov/spar/pphtml/newseventsdetail5027.html

I gotta bad feeling about this "Captain Crunch" that you mention.

{Edited to change typo - "1.4 M14s" to "1.4 million M14s" - Sgt. Bob understood the correct number}

[Sergeant Bob]

Do you give these examples as representative of a pattern?

Yep, I figured there had to be alot more than that made, but didn't realize there were that many!. The examples I gave were from two mutually exclusive sites, with different listings on each. It would take alot more digging to find out where the rest are. I also wonder how many have been destroyed (cut up or crushed). I think there was a flap about some company rewelding the receivers and selling them a while back?

[Sergeant Bob]

Did some more searching and found this letter to Congressman Tom Lantos of Ca. Don't know how accurate the facts are, but the numbers add up and it would explain the disappearance of alot of M-14's.

The Honorable Tom Lantos
400 South El Camino Real
Suite 410
San Mateo, CA 94402

2002-10-29

Congressman Lantos,
One of the most prized American skills is rifle marksmanship. The Civilian Marksmanship Program, an independent federally-chartered corporation, was created in 1916 to encourage recreational shooting sports at the national level. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 made the CMP a separate entity, having been administered previously by the U.S. Army. Currently the CMP sells World War II-era M1 Garand rifles and ammunition to the general public at low cost, enabling interested Americans to participate in the shooting sports.
The M14 rifle, adopted for military service in 1957, was produced until 1965 when the current M16 became standard. The M14 is essentially a significantly improved M1 Garand, and remains extremely popular with proficient target shooters and outdoors enthusiasts nationwide. Over 1.3 million M14 rifles were produced by several manufacturers under government contract. The problem is that over 750,000 of these fine rifles have been destroyed in the last 20 years at significant cost to the government, purportedly to reduce storage costs at military depots around the world. Over 450,000 M14 rifles have been given to other countries at bargain prices. Currently, the only M14-type rifles in production are manufactured by private armories at a retail cost of over $1000 for each unit; only about 150,000 M14 clones exist today in the hands of private citizens.
I request, and would be willing to draft, legislation to enable the Civilian Marksmanship Program to sell semi-automatic M14 rifles to the public under its current system for selling M1 Garand rifles to the public. In light of California's Assault Weapons Control Act and our state's prohibition on the new sales of AR-15 type rifles, which are popular in marksmanship contests, the sale of surplus M14 rifles under certain conditions would be legal in our state and would be a godsend to California citizens. Instead of sitting in storage, the approximately 170,000 surplus M14 rifles remaining could greatly contribute to American marksmanship and outdoor enthusiasts everywhere. I advocate enabling legislation to allow the Civilian Marksmanship Program to sell all remaining surplus M14 rifles in U.S. inventory-- at no cost to the government. Please contact me if you have questions about the issue, or to open a dialogue on the situation. I also would like to thank you for your support of the Armed Pilots initiative under current consideration in Congress.

http://www.awatters.com/m1a/lantos.html

[alan]

Sergeant Bob:

The letter to Rep. Lantos, a man who as I recall, immigrated to this country from Europe, where he have lived in a country that labored under Communist (Russian) domination, especially respecting the following excerpts: "The problem is that over 750,000 of these fine rifles have been destroyed in the last 20 years at significant cost to the government, purportedly to reduce storage costs at military depots around the world. Over 450,000 M14 rifles have been given to other countries at bargain prices. Currently, the only M14-type rifles in production are manufactured by private armories at a retail cost of over $1000 for each unit; only about 150,000 M14 clones exist today in the hands of private citizens.", is quite interesting. Unfortunately, given that, at least as I recall, Lantos was big on gun control, the effort might have been a waste of time.

In any case, the 750,000 M-14 Rifles mentioned that were "destroyed", should be spelled as follows. They became fodder for Captain Crunch, as the large stamping press was known, a press that that paid for out of PUBLIC MONEYS, operated at PUBLIC EXPENSE, and used in the most questionable of manners, TO DESTROY VALUABLE PUBLIC PROPERTY. Someone, actually several people should have been jailed over this, but alas, that never happened.

As to the 450,000 that were "given or sold" to other countries, that disposition MIGHT have been legitimate and or worthwhile, or at least possessed of SOME MERIT, who knows. Supposeldy, some were given or sold to domestic Law Enforcement, to which the above considerations might also apply.

By the bye, undoubtedly, some were lost in action, the M-14 Rifle was used during the Vietnam period, especially be the USMC, until they were ordered, in writing, to turn in the M-14's they had, exchanging them for the M-16, about which enough has been said. Army units also used them during the Vietnam period.

Anyhow, earlier posts in this discussion have stated that the M-14 Rifle is still an item of military issue, if I got that straight. There does seem to be some question concerning the whereabouts of .1 to .2 million of the things, which is curious in view of the fact that earlier posts in this discussion also stated, as I recall, that at present, existing military needs for this weapon cannot be met from quantities currently available in government/military inventories.

In my view, this situation, if correctly described, raises the following question. What the hell happened here, or exactly who was it that so obviously "screwed the pooch" re logistics and supply?

Anyone have any answer, or feel that such questions have already been answered, please let me know.

[Sergeant Bob]

Here's a guy who's trying to mount a campaign to bring M-14's to the DCM. Don't know how well it's doing but it's a good idea nonetheless. I know it's stuff we already know, but I like the one minute letter idea. Quality and quantity, and it speaks of something legiscritters understand...... money.

Fred's Articles

How to Get an M14 Program (http://www.fredsm14stocks.com/article.asp?ITEM=13)


1. Find out the names and addresses - and telephone numbers - of your Federal [and State and Local] Representatives. Call the reference desk at your local library to find them out - and keep them where you can get to them easily!

2. Write or call your representatives in Congress (and the Statehouse) with a "one minute" letter or phone call (see below).

3. Get the message to others about how easy it is to be effective in promoting a DCM M14 program. This is crucial. Only if you get your gun-owning friends involved will you make the real difference that we need to make.

4. YOU should DO MORE: Sign up with NRA-ILA Grassroots (1-800-392-8683). Get ready for the next election - get registered, get your friends motivated, KNOW who to vote for nationally and for the statehouse. Get active! The only thing you have to lose is your freedom! What you have to win is an M14!

Ignore your gun rights --- and they'll go away!

What to Say in Your One-Minute Letter or Phone Call

Dear Sir:
I am strongly for a semiautomatic M14 program through the DCM. This would result in hundreds of millions saved to reduce the deficit. All my friends feel the same way, but they are too lazy to write - but they do vote.


Sincerely,
_________

Do not copy the above example exactly - use your own words to get the point across, or take the examples below and use different parts of each. Remember, a "one-minute" letter gets the point across to your representative just as effectively as a three page letter: he knows your position, he knows how you feel, he knows how you want him to vote, and he knows you are a voter who is watching him.

Other Sample Letters (Pick any one, or combine different ones):I not only want you to vote against any bill which includes gun control;

I want you to be "pro-active" in Congress and help us get an M14 DCM program. If the problem is the deficit, why is our government throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars by destroying M14 rifles - some of which are brand new!? Quit wasting taxpayer money and allow the sale of semi-auto M14s through DCM - up to 300-600 million realized in DEFICIT REDUCTION Remember to always be polite in making your points. Treat your reps with consideration - like they are humans - and you will get a lot farther. Remember further - they are YOUR rights, and the price of liberty is eternal vigilance (Translation: "You snooze - you lose"). Join RGC - purchase M1 & M14 parts from DCM. Qualify to purchase an M1 Garand! Send a $20 check payable to "RGC" for membership card, info packet, and ordering forms. Last, and NOT least, get the word out! Your friends and shooting buddies need to know about our program - that gun owners are organizing and will not be pushed around anymore. This year, make a difference - and get ready to send them a message in the next election!

Don't Talk About it! Do It! Protect Your Firearms Heritage. WRITE A "ONE-MINUTE LETTER"!

(Do not copy exactly) "Dear Sir: My friends and I urge you to reduce the deficit 300-600 million bucks through allowing the sale of DoD semi-auto M14s, M1 carbines, etc. to the law-abiding, taxpaying voters. Thank you for listening to a voter. Sincerely, _________"

Send to your (two Senators), US Senate, Wash. DC 20510 and (your Representative), US House of Rep. Wash DC 20515

Save and make a copy of this and pass it on to a friend! register & vote, and make sure your gun-owning friends do also!

It does not take a lot of time to get your Congressman's ear. A "One Minute Letter" will count just as much as a three-page letter - but takes a lot less time to write. Make your opinion count - send a "One Minute Letter"!

[alan]

Sgt. Bob:

I like the idea of what you refer to as "the one minute letter" or phone call. Re the idea of phone calls, local offices of your senators and or congress critters are a place to go. Also, the following, which I have posted before, in other discussions, might be of interest. The toll free number for Capitol Switchboard is 1-800-648-3516. Just tell the lady who answers which senatorial or congressional office you want to speak with. They put these calls through, sometimes you get a busy. If you do, try again.

As for gun owners being a lazy lot, unfortunately true, however the general run of citizens are lazy too. As you mentioned, ignore your rights, and they will go away. Fred's article is worth the moment it takes to read.

Gun owners have simply got to grow beyond their insularity, their lazyness and if I may, their bloodminded stupidity. Some of them actually believe that the antis will allow them, their favorite arms, they simply have to BETRAY the owners of those "nasty, non-sporting guns" for instance, whatever they might actually be. Just remember that the earth isn't flat, that 2 + 2 = 4, and finally that to the anti gunners, anything that goes BANG is one of those "nasty guns", ALL of which, eventually must be banned.

People like Tom Lantos are the very worst type of double-talkers, and back stabbers.