April 17, 2013: President Obama puts his arm around former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords before speaking in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington about measures to reduce gun violence.AP
Fox
One new policy will end a government practice that lets military weapons, sold or donated by the U.S. to allies, be reimported into the U.S. by private entities. The White House said the U.S. has approved 250,000 of those guns to be reimported since 2005; under the new policy, only museums and a few other entities like the government will be eligible to reimport military-grade firearms.
The Obama administration is also proposing a federal rule to stop those who would be ineligible to pass a background check from skirting the law by registering a gun to a corporation or trust. The new rule would require people associated with those entities, like beneficiaries and trustees, to undergo the same type of fingerprint-based background checks as individuals if they want to register guns.
But the NRA said that neither measure would reduce crime, since neither the re-importation of firearms nor the corporate gun registration is known to be a source of weapons for criminals.
"Requiring background checks for corporations and trusts does not keep firearms out of the hands of criminals. Prohibiting the re-importation of firearms into the U.S. that were manufactured 50 or more years ago does not keep firearms out of the hands of criminals. This administration should get serious about prosecuting violent criminals who misuse guns and stop focusing its efforts on law-abiding gun owners," the NRA said in a statement.
The types of surplus weapons that have been re-imported under this provision are all more than 50 years old, and fall under the definition of "curio" or "relic" firearms. They include M1 Garand rifles and several other models -- a list can be found here. As such, it is safe to assume that few are used in crimes.I wouldn't argue that the M1 Garand, and other similar weapons, are rarely used in crime, but obviously the more of them we import, the more will be used improperly. The other measure, however, certainly will have an a positive affect on crime. Disqualified people should be prevented from circumventing the system in this way.
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