Dragunov Tigr Importation Petition

[AnimeFanatic5602]

The Tigr rifle, made by Izhmash, is a civilianized sporting variation of the Dragunov SVD sniper rifle used by the Russian military. It was originally imported into the United States by B West, but due to anti-gun paranoia it was banned in the early 90's. In all honesty, the Tigr is not any better or worse than any of the semi-automatic sporting rifles on the market today. The only reason why it was singled out was that it closely resembles its military counterpart. Izhmash manufactures several variations of semi-automatic sporting rifles based on the AK-47, known as Saiga, that are legally imported into the U.S. every day, so why should this be excluded?

For this reason, I have started a petition to send to the BATF to allow the importation of these rifles once again. I hope that you will take a few seconds out of your day to sign this petition. The "assault rifle ban" may be gone, but its effects continue to linger on; it is my goal to help correct this.

http://www.petitiononline.com/izhtgr12/petition.html

I started another thread on this subject in the activism forum about a year ago, but it was closed after it deviated into a technical discussion, so I hope to have a bit more luck this time.

 

[apexgunparts]

I think you may be petitioning the wrong organization.
I believe BATFE isn't regulating the import of these rifles.
It is the Russians themselves.

I looked up these links while answering a question on a different firearms forum. I thought it might be informative to also post them here.

The first document is called a "Voluntary Restraint Agreement" (VRA) between the USA and the Russian Federation.
This one is interesting because it lists what IS importable from the Russian Federation as sporting arms, instead of what is banned.

http://tcc.export.gov/Trade_Agreements/All_Trade_Agreements/exp_005371.asp

The next link is an announcement from the BATFE that annex A of the VRA was amended in 2004 and 76 firearms were ADDED and would now be considered for import. These guns would still have to be evaluated for "Sporting purpose" to determine their importability.

http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2004/05/052004-openletter-ffl-importers-russia-reclassified.html

The next link is the actual list of what was added to annex "A" in 2004.

http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2...-importers-russia-reclassified-attachment.pdf

There must have been a great cause for concern when the trade barriers with the Russian Federation were removed. I believe the following legal opinion was rendered in case the VRA was ever negated...

http://www.justice.gov/olc/arms02.htm

Once you read the lists you will see why Mosin-Nagant 91-30's are being imported, but Model 1891's are NOT. This agreement also blocks (surplus/new) Russian AK's in military configurations since they are not on the list. Note that SAIGA's are on the VRA.
Here is the real rub of the VRA, it was written by the Russian Federation and brought to the US State Dep't.
The US DoS agreed to abide by it.
So, any changes (such as the 2004 additions) have to come from the Russian Federation.
It is their decision as to what "sporting firearms" originating from the Russian Federation can be imported into the USA.
I say "sporting firearms" as those are the only firearms that BATFE will allow into commerce on a Form 6.

I note that the links to the ATF references sometimes have to be copied into "GOOGLE" to actually work!

 

[AnimeFanatic5602]

I may be barking up the wrong tree in this situation, but I'm hoping that if I can light a big enough fire under someone's a** then something might hopefully get done. Doubtful, but at least we can possibly get people in the government thinking about it.

 

[AnimeFanatic5602]

I was hoping that this would get more attention, especially now that the ATF is sticking its collective nose where it isn't wanted with their proposed shotgun ban.

 

[Owen Sparks]

Sending the BATFE a signed petition sounds like a good way to get your name on
"The List" No thanks.

 

[jobu07]

I signed this petition as I support what you're trying to convey to the ATF. However, a couple of points. First of all, the ATF will give absolutely 0% consideration to anything conducted over the internet. Poll, petition, or general thoughts on a forum. If you want to reach them you need to create a network of like minded individuals around the country who are willing to carry paper and pen petitions.

Secondly, as someone before had aluded, the ATF isn't who is controlling what is and is not imported. For that you'd need to petition/lobby Congress. The easiest way to see this realized is to have a frank and straight forward discussion with a like minded Congressman who is willing to take up the cause and create a Bill to Amend the imprortation ban on these firearms.

Take it for what it's worth, your mileage may vary. Good luck friend.

 

[Davek1977]

FWIW, most feel online petitions are a waste of time. The information is so easily faked and unverifiable. I could sign it 3000 times under 3000 different aliases. They hold no legal weight whatsoever, and are as likely to end up in the recycle bin of someone's computer as actually read, IMO

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/internet.asp

I'm not admonishing you for making the attempt, but to expect this to even be read, let alone granted any real consideration, is a stretch, I'm afraid. Until theres some way to verify the information.....and someone actually willing to take the time to do so......online petitions largely serve as feel-ggood measures for the person creating them