Yesterday, in response to the current situation in Russia/Crimea, the President issued an executive order and everyone freaked out. They freaked out because a casual reading of the executive order would make it seem like the President banned the import of any guns/ammo made in Russia…except he totally didn’t do that. Politico has a reasonable article about the EO which has this important bit of text:
Monday’s order authorizes Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to work with Secretary of State John Kerry to impose asset freezes and travel restrictions on “any individual or entity that operates in the Russian arms industry, and any designated individual or entity that acts on behalf of, or that provides material or other support to, any senior Russian government official,” the White House said in a statement.
That’s important, because it means they’re not going after companies like Wolf and TulAmmo that sell and important ammo in x39 calibers (5.45×39, 7.62×39), so for the time being at least those rounds will still be generally available in their classic, steel-cased cheap form.
Of course, no amount of reason can stop the gunternet from losing their collective minds, so what we should all do right now is panic buy all the 7.62 Russian we can find, regardless of whether it’s made in Bulgaria or Russia or somewhere else. That’s not to say that the current situation in Crimea couldn’t have ripples in the US market, because some Wolf ammo is made in the Ukraine, and obviously the Tula factory is in Russia. An actual shooting war between those two nations would likely affect the US market, because domestic production would likely get diverted to the actual war effort.
However, as far as the President banning import of new ammo? Didn’t happen, and everyone needs to calm down. I’m tired of having to defend this administration because people are too busy getting hysterical instead of doing a little research. I’m not even saying that Obama doesn’t want to ban ammo imports or that he won’t in the future, I’m just saying that right now, this time, he didn’t.
Telling the truth isn’t defending Obama. Crimea? Obama won’t do anything meaningful about Crimea. He’s much more interested in “fundamentally transforming” America into a banana republic of welfare subsidized/cheap labor third world people on behalf of the crony corporatist billionaires who own his ass.
The European Union ministers? More interested in passing “global warming” law after investing in their brother-in-law’s “green energy” corporation. And officiating at Gay weddings.
The Crimea has been Russian since Catherine The Great was Czarina and the U;S. President was named George Washington.
Khrushchev “gave” it to Ukraine- utterly meaningless as in 1954 Ukraine was just another administrative district of the Kremlin.
The recent coup d’etat in Kiev deposing the duly elected leader of Ukraine gave Putin all excuse he needed to reclaim Crimea.
If Russia leaves the rest of Ukraine along, it’s all over but for the gasbagging and fake, phony gesture politics.
It must be exhausting trying to insert a little common sense into the internet.
I changed my middle name to “Sisyphus.”
Look on the bright side…
http://www.amazingsuperpowers.com/2013/01/new-job/
“…no amount of reason can stop the gunternet from losing their collective minds,”
It’s not an irrational response. Unless you’re brain-dead or you’ve been asleep since 2008, your progressive betters have been executing a marathon effort to restrict, hinder, hassle, shame and legislate gun owners out of existence.
So Badak Uhdhanga discovers a new ‘crisis’ to expand his sick agenda, I wouldn’t blame anyone for picking up a couple extra boxes of x39.
Yet…..
I read the order carefully – no casual reading – and it is quite easy to conclude that the order effectively authorizes a ban on Russian ammo. Unless, of course, someone who deals in Russian ammo would like its property frozen upon entering the U.S. It was poorly written. As with most poorly written, ambiguous legal documents, the devil will be in how it is interpreted by those who matter, which we should know pretty soon. Assuming no one has directed Wolf or Tula distributors in the US to hold their goods, then we’re good … for now.
Yes, I read it as affecting three classes of people;
1. “any individual or entity that operates in the Russian arms industry”,
2 “any designated individual or entity that acts on behalf of . . . any senior Russian government official.”
3 “any designated individual or entity that . . . provides material or other support to, any senior Russian government official.”
The first category includes Tula, and the second includes agents of senior Russian government officials and The third could be anyone that provides material or support to any senior Russian official.
And when it says entity, they are referring of course, to corporations, partnerships, unions, trade associations, etc.
Wasnt it Caleb that was trying to reassure us that this was not going to happen several days ago? The rapid about face is absurd. A simple understanding of geopolitics dictates that future supplies of ammo from the region could be in jeopardy even if its not Russian because neighboring countries might feel its necessary to stock up with a Russian bear on the prowl.
Did you read the article?
Yes I did read the article and it seems you are still adhering to the belief that an awakened Russian bear wont have any effect on US ammo supplies. Are you even old enough to remember the days of the iron curtain and the SOP from the days of the soviet age? Even if there aren’t any import exclusions from our administration the regional powers will probably have their orders in for locally produced ammo. The net result is less ammo for American shooters. This is a simple concept that seems to have eluded you.
“Gun News: Everyone panic, Obama Executive order bans import of new 7.62×39 ammo!” and what you apparently wrote in the body of the article seems to be conflicting to the point where the idea you are trying to convey seems a bit unclear. But thanks for clarifying.
Sigh.
If you look up from your monitor really fast, you might see my point whooshing over your head. The hilarious part is that you very clearly didn’t read the post. Because you accuse me of missing the point that the crisis could affect American shooters when I actually said these very words in my post:
I literally said the EXACT THING you accuse me of not saying.
I have no problem with debating people who disagree with my posts, but my only requirement is that they have actually read the post.
Jesus H Christ…more FUD to screw the pooch. I was at the big SHOT show in Phoenix in Nov 08 right after the election–morons shuffling around like they would never see another bullet again and their fellow conservatives fanning the fire so they could sell a 50rd box of .357 for $75. Then came the idiot “preppers” telling people to “buy ammo even if you don’r have a gun that chambers it, you can trade it for tuna & crackers/mRE’s when society crumbles…”. In 2 years Obama will be out, DHS will not have used the “billions of rounds of .40 hollowpoint” or the grave liners etc and a lot of very stupid people will be holding ammo they paid way too much for
In 2008, SHOT Show was held in February in Las Vegas, well before the election. In 2009, after the ’08 election SHOT was in Orlando.
My apologies–it may not have been the SHOT show–6 years ago the memory gets blurry–it was a large gun show up in phoenix–went there the help a friend that owned a gun store in town–I stand corrected. I do recall guys with booths setup to Impeach Obama–i had to point out he has to be sworn in first…
I remember NRA Annual Meetings was in Phoenix once, but I don’t recall the year.
SAR show is held in Phoenix every winter, that’s probably what it was. I was there in 2008 as well, it was exactly as you described.
Thank you..it was the SAR show–great show–beat the hell out of the smaller gunshows here in Tucson. I was just looking at all the folks with handtrucks stacked with guns & ammo panic buying paying $1000 for a WASR & other nonsense. Lots of stuff but damn few gunsafes/cabinets. I was worried that some cretin would get their hands on someones stash and we had sandy hook (not sure what that gal had in the way of safes–my guess would be NOT combination locks).