Steyr HS50's seized in Iraq

[Biker]

It's just bidness. If America or Israel would have bought them, Steyr would have been just as happy, I suspect.

Biker

 

[trueblue1776]

SWEET WAR TROPHY!

Waaaaaay better than a rusty old tok.

 

[El Tejon]

true, haven't you read THR? There are no guns coming back from Iraq. None at all.

 

[Zoogster]

true, haven't you read THR? There are no guns coming back from Iraq. None at all.

Yeah it is generaly illegal for any soldier to bring back any weapon. The only real exception from what I understand is near impossible to get approved through the chain of command, and is for very rare and specific firearms to be owned by the government or military, such as in a museum or displayed at the HQ of some unit, and that requires prior approval all the way up the chain of command which as I said is virtualy impossible. If you find a gold plated AK and have a very dedicated person in charge of such matters on your side you MIGHT be able to get it sent home to be on display and owned by the government somewhere, but still will never legaly have possession of it yourself in the states. Otherwise your breaking the law.

All the risks and none of the spoils, what has soldiering been reduced to?

 

[pacodelahoya]

Wasn't the Commander in Chief presented with some gold plated goodies?

I guess all those regulations don't pertain to him huh?

 

[Thin Black Line]

He got Saddam's pistol.

 

[Zundfolge]

Naturaly there's a bit of a hullabaloo over this over on the Steyr Club forum ... in fact one of the founding moderators there is joining the Steyr Boycott.

While I certainly don't expect anyone to go against their morals (a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do), there was an excellent response from ministerofdeath over there about this (dunno if MOD posts over here).

Here are ten reasons why I will not boycott Steyr.

1. Under Austrian law Steyr could not sell firearms to a nation engaged in a war with another nation. The Austrian government reviewed and approved the sale.

2. The end user agreement restricted Iran to using the HS 50s for protection of their boarders from drug smugglers.

3. Steyr's international patent on the HS 50 expired long ago and Iran is well known for cloning everything from rifles to Cobra Gunships received from the United States.

4. As of today no one has presented any hard evidence that the rifles recovered in Iraq were HS 50s produced by Steyr.

5. Weapons from almost every nation including the United States have found their way into terrorist hands. All someone has to do is flip on the television and they will find terrorist in Lebanon who wave M-16s. I have seen pictures of weapons recovered in Iraq that include FN P-90s that were sold to Saudi Arabia.

6. When Steyr made their sale in 2004 it was before the election of Ahmadinejad and there was a lot of hope in the international community including the United States that the reform parties in Iran would change the direction of the nation. As a result, there were no embargos or international treaties that Austria was under that restricted the sale.

7. The United States has closed off its market to Steyr for the sale of imported assault rifles and as Steyr is in the small nation of Austria they are dependent on foreign sales.

8. Steyr licensed F88 AUSTEYRs have killed as many terrorists as any other foreign rifle currently in production today. The Irish who carry the Steyr AUG have allowed US and NATO forces to be able to move out of Bosnia and Kosovo so they can conduct operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Steyr AUGs are also in the hands of the US ICE protecting our homeland. Of course, none of this is mentioned.

9. Once asked to cease their sale of the HS 50s to Iran Steyr did so although they gained nothing from agreeing to that.

10. The United States State Department praised Stery for its decision to stop further sales to Iran.

In addition, an Austrian going by the name of Martin posted this:

why boycott steyr?
the guns found in iraq were not original steyr made hs50, they are low quality copies - yesterday it was in the austrian radio news
- NO STEYR OR AUSTRIAN MADE RIFLES"

(I've asked him to post a source so we'll have to wait and see, but Iran has a history of copying stuff they buy, in fact patent/copyright infringement is a cottage industry in the MI and Asia).

 

[doubleg]

"If chaught we will deny any involvement". What did you people think there going to say. We didn't do anything wrong were inocent.

 

[Art Eatman]

Given Zundfolge's post, let's wait until we learn more. Restart when we know for sure if these are actual Steyr's or knockoffs.

Art