I remember my first exposure to the M1 rifle; I was a 9th grader in the Glendale High School ROTC in California. I remember learning that the “US Rifle, Caliber 30, M1, is a semi-automatic, air cooled, gas operated, clip fed shoulder weapon.” It had an 8-round clip. For those who don’t know, a clip has no spring or other moving parts; it’s just a, well, clip. What is commonly called a “clip” is really a magazine—a magazine (or mag) does have a spring that moves the bullets in it to where they can be used by the weapon. This was the standard weapon for our troops in WW II and the Korean War.
The South Korean government, in an effort to raise money for its military, wants to sell nearly a million antique M1 rifles that were used by U.S. soldiers in the Korean War to gun collectors in America. The Obama administration approved the sale of the American-made rifles last year. But it reversed course and banned the sale in March – a decision that went largely unnoticed at the time but that is now sparking opposition from gun rights advocates.
I wonder why Obama and company wants to ban this rifle from collectors—it is truly a great weapon in our nation’s history.
