The news that tens of thousands of U.S. M-1 Garand rifles may soon return from Korea is again swirling around the web. Unfortunately, it seems that any celebration about the return of these historic weapons is premature at best.
The latest discussion was triggered by a January 18th article in The Korean Times newspaper. The article quoted Korean Deputy Defense Minister for Force and Resources Management, Lee Sun-chui, as saying, “The U.S. government approved the imports of some 86,000 of the rifles.”
According to the article the Korean Defense Ministry received an approval letter from the United States to allow importation of these rifles on September 2, 2011. The U.S. denied the request for importation of 600,000 M-1 Carbines at the same time.
While this news makes it seem like a done deal, nothing is ever simple when it comes to the importation of ex-U.S. military firearms. The Korean Times article itself even quotes a “senior defense ministry official” as saying that the U.S. government may still cancel the plans to import the rifles and that “Seoul has yet to finalize negotiations with Washington.”
The article also contains the frankly bizarre statement by Lee Sun-chui that, “The historic firearms are expected to be sold to American Korean War veterans and their families.” How the Korean official came to this conclusion is not stated.
If the rifles do come to the U.S., one thing is clear: They will not be turned over to the non-profit Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) for distribution. In response to a question about the Korean Garands posted at the CMP’s official web forum, Orest Michaels, CMP Chief Operating Officer, posted this response early this morning,”If it happens (sale by Koreans), you will not see them through CMP.”
This fits in with previous statements by Michaels on the CMP forum, including this undated post:
"The rumors, reports, articles about Korea "selling" Garands and carbines have been circulating for at least ten years. About nine months ago the Korea Times once again reported that they would be selling Garands and carbines to a US importer. The CMP is not a firearms importer and we would not have any involvement of any kind in anything that may happen with these Korean rifles and carbines if they were “sold” to an importer.
The only way any rifle or carbine from any country can find its way to the CMP is if the country returns “loaned” rifles back to the US Army - at no cost to the US. When that happens, the CMP "may" possibly receive some of those rifles. According to the recent articles, Korea did not plan on returning (transferring) any rifles to the US Army, but planned to “sell” these rifles to an importer. We do not have any standing to investigate the reports from Korea or any actions the US government may have taken as a result of those rumors."
With the CMP out of the picture the only route for importation of these rifles would be one of the large firearms importers. Of course, this assumes that the U.S. government first approves the sale and that the Korean government can reach a deal with an importer. All if this, if it happens, will take time.
Considering the obstacles that still remain to the importation of these rifles, my view is not to count on seeing a Korean re-import M-1 Garand at your local gun shop anytime soon, if ever.
In the meantime, the CMP recently announced the availability of a limited number of “Service Grade” M-1 Garands for sale.Those shooters who want a genuine USGI M-1 Garand are advised to take advantage of the CMP program instead of waiting to see if those Korean M-1 Garands ever do return to the United States.
For more information on how to purchase a Garand from the CMP read my two articles below:
How to purchase a M-1 Garand from the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP)
A look at the best CMP M-1 Garand choices available
***
Note to readers: If you like my articles please share links via Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and other social media outlets and web forums.
Comments