Category: A Victory!
First published in American Rifleman, July, 1989.
By Orson O. Buck
Shooters of the U.S. beware. Give way an inch to the anti-gun lobby and you’ll end up like the poor folk here in Great Britain. And it’s not just handguns I’m talking about.
Regulations which have recently come into force have made all semi-auto rifles larger than .22 Long Rifle illegal. If you’ve got one (and each is individually licensed), you have to hand it in. After much hassle in parliament it’s been agreed you get paid for it—at the time of writing (February) just £150 ($260). It’s legalized robbery!
And now even shotguns have to be individually registered as well, although as yet, there’s no limit on the number you can have.
There’s always been a sneaky bit in United Kingdom firearms legislation, too. It forms Section 5 of the 1968 Act, and it allows the police chief of each area discretion to refuse a license. It’s mostly been used pretty reasonably—an alcoholic finds it rather difficult to own a rifle, for instance—but if you’re getting on in years and a bit frail…?
The other day I witnessed a heartbreaking scene. The owner of a superb firearm, a sniper rifle from World War II, was virtually in tears as he hammered a bullet into the rifling at the breech end and then proceeded to fill the chamber with weld metal. Why? Because he was talked into it! His three-year license was due for renewal, and the police said he was too feeble to go hunting or paper-punching anymore. So, logically, he couldn’t have any use for it, he had to sell it if he could or surrender it to the authorities—with no compensation—and it would be destroyed. The thought of this was intolerable to the old chap, hence the welding exercise. At least that way he could hang it on the wall and dream of days gone by.
What days, too! As a Scotsman he’d hoped to be drafted into a Scottish regiment, but it was not to be. During the Great War of 1914-18 the British Army had encouraged men to enlist in county regiments and units even more localized. Such battalions as “The Manchester Pals” were formed where most of the men knew each other and came from a very small area indeed. They fought well, these formations. Too well. In the big battles of that war whole battalions were virtually erased in minutes—20,000 casualties in the first hour of the Battle of the Somme.
Can you imagine the effect on a small town when it learns that practically all the men it sent to the war are never to return? The collapse of civilian morale was so great as to be bordering on revolt in some cases. So when the next war came that was one lesson the army had learned. Men from the draft were distributed among regiments that bore no connection to their home localities. Our man, then, found himself in a light infantry unit.
But he did well there. Finding that he could shoot straight, he was sent on a snipers’ course and passed with flying colors. Then to Italy with the 79th Division (the badge was a yellow battleaxe on a blue background—maybe some of you vets remember seeing it). On to Special Forces, a high score, a couple of wounds, and he was back on the civvy street.
Wanting a rifle for hunting and target shooting but not having a lot of pennies at the time, he looked around for one of the surplus No. 4 Enfields that were becoming available and that he knew so well. He saw one advertised, mail order, complete with scope sight. In due course it arrived. Now, one thing a soldier remembers, after his ID number, is his rifle’s serial number. The one in a million chance had come up; this had been his very own tool, the one he’d scored with again and again.
For many happy years he shot on the range, using the ordinary aperture Sight but occasionally fitting the scope from its steel box when it came to taking a deer or two in the winter and the light was poor. This was one of the plus points of the No. 4. The scope could be dismounted, carried separately in a transit case and refitted immediately before action without any loss of zero.
The rifle itself was specially selected, in .303 British of course, and the battle sight, a 200-yd. zeroed peep, was milled off to permit mounting the scope, but the ladder sight was left intact. Two machined steel blocks were screwed to the left side of the receiver. Each has a threaded hole. The bottom halves of the scope rings are an integral part of a steel bracket which carries two screws with two large knurled-heads. These screwslocate in the receiver blocks, giving repeatability of lock-up every time. Naturally, the inevitable presence of machining tolerances meant that every scope rifle job was a one-off, and this is corroborated by the sight and rifle numbers being entered on a label in the transit box.
After 45 years (the combination was made in 1943), the scope’s lenses are still clear although of only 2X. Eye relief is rather critical, of course. Each end of the scope tube has a slide-over shade, and the reticle is the post and rail type. The sight is fabricated from brass and immensely strong, but obviously this strength carries a weight penalty. In fact, the complete job, rifle plus scope, turns in at just 11 lbs. unloaded. Of course, when used with the scope the stock had to be higher than standard at the comb in order to get a firm “pinch” with the cheek. This was achieved by having a wooden block with two short pins which dropped into holes on top of the butt and was secured by a leather strap. Unfortunately, this block has gone AWOL over the years, but it would probably have added another 8 ozs. or so to the total, giving an all-up of over 12 lbs. loaded. Quite a handful.
But now all our old “Tommy” can do is doze and dream…that stag on the hill when the snow was 3-ft. deep but the sky a brilliant blue…that machine gun whose crew dropped one by one…
Korean War Sequel
The tale of the British “Tommy” who rediscovered his World War II rifle has its sequel in Henry G. Upfold of Arizona.
Earlier this year Upfold visited a gun shop in Sierra Vista, Ariz., to purchase a handgun. Spotting an M1 Garand on the wall, Upfold asked to examine it.
“I recognized the number right away,” he told a newspaper reporter, explaining his formula for remembering the rifle’s serial number, 1994017. “I was 19 when I was in Korea. 9 is my mom’s birth month. 4 is my birth month, there was a zero, and I was 17 when I enlisted.” he explained.
Upfold was issued the rifle by the Army in Sasebo, Japan, en route to Korea in July 1953. It was to remain his constant companion there until he turned it in at Taegu, Korea, in November 1954.
“I slept with it, and I’ve been through the mud and rain with it,” said Upfold, who is retired because of disability. He was able to purchase his old rifle, and a trip to the range confirmed it was still as accurate as he remembered.
After five days of deliberations, a jury in New York on Friday held the National Rifle Association liable for financial mismanagement and found that Wayne LaPierre, the group’s former CEO, corruptly ran the nation’s most prominent gun rights group.
LaPierre and a senior executive at the NRA must pay a combined $6.35 million “for abusing the system and breaking our laws,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office brought the lawsuit against the organization, said following the verdict.
The jury determined that LaPierre’s violation of his duties cost the NRA $5.4 million in damages, though he already repaid more than $1 million to the organization. He must pay $4.35 million, the New York Attorney General’s Office said.
LaPierre, staring forward with his hands clasped in his lap, sat in the first row of the gallery while the jury read the verdict. He did not speak to the press upon leaving the courthouse Friday.
The New York Attorney General’s Office sued the NRA and its senior management in 2020, claiming they misappropriated millions of dollars to fund personal benefits — including private jets, family vacations and luxury goods. The accusations came at the end of a three-year investigation into the NRA, which is registered in New York as a nonprofit charitable corporation.
The jurors, who began deliberating on Feb. 16, were asked to weigh transactions like hair and makeup for LaPierre’s wife, payments or speaking fees to board members, and contracts with favored vendors willing to pay kickbacks.
LaPierre announced his resignation from the organization on Jan. 5, days before the start of the trial, citing health reasons, according to the NRA.
The lawsuit alleged that LaPierre filled executive positions at the NRA with unqualified loyalists in order to maintain control and conceal self-dealing, including co-defendants John Frazer, corporate secretary and general counsel, and Woody Phillips, the former chief financial officer and treasurer, the attorney general’s lawsuit said. The three of them stand accused of breaching the trust of donors by using charitable money for luxury travel, private planes and five-star hotels, along with entering into multimillion-dollar contracts with favored vendors willing to pay.
The jury found that Frazer and Phillips were liable for violating their duties to the organization. Philips was ordered to pay $2 million in damages, the attorney general’s office said.
The jury also found that the NRA failed to properly administer charitable funds and violated state whistleblower protections, the office said. Frazer and the NRA were also found liable for making false statements on the NRA’s regulatory filings, the office said.
The jury found that there was not enough evidence to provide cause for removing Frazer as secretary of the NRA.
James said the verdict is a “major victory” for her office and the people of New York and that LaPierre and the NRA “are finally being held accountable for this rampant corruption and self-dealing.”
“In New York, you cannot get away with corruption and greed, no matter how powerful or influential you think you may be,” she said in a statement on X. “Everyone, even the NRA and Wayne LaPierre, must play by the same rules.”
The NRA said the verdict confirmed that it was “victimized” by former vendors and fiduciaries “who abused the trust placed in them.”
“We appreciate the service of the jury and the opportunity to present evidence about the positive direction of the NRA today,” NRA President Charles Cotton said in a statement, adding that NRA members “should be heartened by the NRA’s commitment to best practices.”
“To the extent there were control violations, they were acted upon immediately by the NRA Board beginning in summer 2018,” the statement continued.
The next phase of the proceedings will be a bench trial in which Justice Joel Cohen is expected to rule on any final remedies against the defendants, the NRA said.
A fourth defendant, former NRA operations director Joshua Powell, settled civil claims of fraud and abuse brought by James prior to the start of the trial.
As part of his settlement, Powell admitted he breached his fiduciary duties of care, loyalty and obedience by using the NRA’s charitable assets for his own benefit and the benefit of his family. He also admitted he failed to administer the charitable assets entrusted to his care properly.
During closing statements on Feb. 15, LaPierre’s lawyer argued the lawsuit was politically motivated and that he “acted in good faith and with honesty, sincerity and intention,” according to The Associated Press.
The state told jurors that the NRA and its executives were “caught with their hand in the cookie jar” and were trying to deflect, while the NRA’s lawyer said that any corruption was committed against, not by, the group, according to the AP.
Lawyers for Frazer and Phillips told jurors their clients acted in good faith and in the best interests of the NRA, the AP reported. Phillips’ lawyer said his client “doesn’t deserve to be made penniless,” according to the AP.
James’ lawsuit seeks to recoup lost assets and permanently ban LaPierre and the others from serving on any charitable boards in New York. Powell accepted that ban as part of his settlement agreement. He also agreed to pay $100,000 in restitution and to testify against LaPierre and others at trial.
The lawsuit additionally seeks an independent monitor to oversee the NRA’s finances.
The NRA tried to file bankruptcy in 2021 but a federal judge rejected its petition, saying, “The NRA did not file the bankruptcy petition in good faith.”
LaPierre previously said the New York attorney general’s lawsuit was an “unconstitutional, premeditated attack aiming to dismantle and destroy the NRA — the fiercest defender of America’s freedom at the ballot box for decades.”
In 2020, following the attorney general’s filing of the suit, an NRA spokesperson said in a statement that at the time that LaPierre was “required to travel private for security purposes, in accordance with NRA Board policy,” and that he was “asked by the NRA’s former advertising agency to incur certain wardrobe expenses given his enormous public profile.”
Maybe its time to start shooting some stupid rich folks? Grumpy Asking for a Friend
BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation is cheering the decision by a 9th Circuit Court panel to deny the State of California an en banc hearing in a case known as Junior Sports Magazines, Inc. v. Bonta, in which the state tried to prohibit firearm advertising which it claims, “reasonably appears to be attractive to minors.”
SAF is joined in the case by Junior Sports Magazines, the California Youth Shooting Sports Association, Redlands California Youth Clay Shooting Sports, California Rifle & Pistol Association, CRPA Foundation, Gun Owners of California and Raymond Brown, a private citizen.
“It seems like forever since the 9th Circuit has refused to hear a gun case en banc,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Hopefully, this is a new trend.”
SAF attorney Donald Kilmer noted, “This means that our win before the three-judge panel will become the case law on this issue in the Ninth Circuit. It means the trial court’s denial of a preliminary injunction remains reversed and that court will be required to enter a preliminary injunction, preventing enforcement of this law while the case proceeds to final judgment.”
SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut said the court’s decision is a victory for the First Amendment as well as the Second.
“The state was determined to regulate the First Amendment as well as the Second,” Kraut stated, “and we prevented California from continuing to enact unconstitutional laws. We’re pleased the 9th Circuit has decided to leave the panel’s decision undisturbed.”
This is a ground-breaking First Amendment case, which defends the right of Junior Sports Magazine and other periodicals to publish Second Amendment-related material in California.