Category: A Victory!

For decades, the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) has been one of the most effective ways to preserve America’s marksmanship tradition and put iconic surplus rifles, such as the M1 Garand, into the hands of citizens who will cherish them.

CMP proceeds fund youth programs, training, and competitions that ensure the next generation of Americans know how to handle a rifle safely and competently.

Naturally, that makes the CMP a target for the gun-control crowd.

Democrats vs. CMP: The Same Old Playbook

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) recently introduced an NDAA amendment to allow additional surplus weapons from the Navy and Air Force to be transferred to CMP. This would help fund their mission — youth training, competitions, and the restoration of historic firearms.

“This amendment would make our country more dangerous… putting more weapons on the streets of this country.”

What Frost either doesn’t know (or doesn’t care to know) is that buying a CMP rifle isn’t like ordering ammo off GunBroker. Buyers must meet strict eligibility requirements, undergo background checks, and follow a process that has been in place for decades.

The South Korean M1 Garands That Never Came Home

This fight over CMP surplus rifles isn’t new. Back in 2010, South Korea attempted to sell hundreds of thousands of aging M1 Garands and M1 Carbines, rifles that the U.S. had sent them during the Cold War, back to the U.S. This would have saved them storage costs and boosted their defense budget.

But the Obama State Department, led by Hillary Clinton, quietly killed the deal. Their excuse? The rifles “could potentially be exploited by individuals seeking firearms for illicit purposes.” No signed policy, no public debate, just a bureaucratic “no.”

Obama doubled down in 2013 with an executive action formally banning the reimportation of these rifles except for museums. Congress tried to override it with the Collectible Firearms Protection Act (thanks to Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-WY), but the bills never made it to a vote.

Trump Could Fix This — Today

Here’s the key point: this was never a law. It was executive policy. And what one president did with the stroke of a pen, another can undo the same way.

Trump’s first term already saw some progress; CMP received nearly 99,000 M1 Garands from the Philippines and Turkey in 2018. But South Korea’s M1 Garand rifles? Still sitting overseas.South Korean soldiers hone their marksmanship skills with the U.S. M1 Garand rifle. Despite a substantial production run during the 1950s era, most of the M1 rifles used during the war were refurbished weapons of World War II vintage. (U.S. Army photo)

All it would take is an order from the Oval Office to rescind Obama’s policy and greenlight their return. It’s a move that would:

• Bring a huge number of historic U.S. rifles back to American collectors and shooters.
• Infuriate the gun-control lobby.
• Fire up gun owners ahead of the 2026 midterms.
  

  Gun Groups Need to Step Up

  The real question is whether anyone in Trump’s circle is talking to him about this. The administration’s so-called “Second Amendment Task Force” is made up of government insiders — not gun owners.

  If gun groups claim to have access to the former president, this is the moment to use it. Call for the reimportation order. Remind him that CMP sales don’t “put guns on the street,” they put them in the hands of law-abiding citizens — the same people who will show up to vote if they know their president is fighting for them.

  Bottom Line

  M1 Garands are more than collectible rifles — they’re a living link to America’s history. It’s time to bring the rest of them home.

  Trump could make that happen in a matter of hours. But he won’t unless we keep the pressure on and make sure this issue breaks out of the gun-rights echo chamber and onto his desk.

More than three decades ago, a Republican president with a “no new gun laws” campaign promise pulled the rug out from under America’s gun owners. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush banned the importation of 43 models of semi-automatic rifles — rifles the media loves to call “assault weapons” — with the stroke of a pen.

Chinese AKs. Israeli Uzi carbines. FN FALs. HK 91s and 93s. All blocked at the border because ATF decided they didn’t meet the Gun Control Act’s arbitrary “sporting purposes” test.

And here’s the kicker: that ban has never been repealed.

Why This Matters Today

The 1989 import ban wasn’t passed by Congress. It was an executive decision — meaning the sitting president could reverse it tomorrow without a single vote on Capitol Hill.

Firearms News Editor-in-Chief Vincent DeNiro put it plainly:

“President Trump doesn’t even need Congress to get rid of the unconstitutional 1989 ‘assault weapons’ import ban. He just needs to order BATFE to declare all imported semi-auto rifles as ‘sporting,’ which is what these same models are considered when domestically produced.”

That’s right — the same rifles that can be built and sold here in the U.S. are still banned from import simply because of where they’re made.

The History Behind the “Sporting Purposes” Test

The Gun Control Act of 1968 gave the federal government the power to block imports of firearms that weren’t deemed “sporting.” That language was a gift to the gun-control lobby, and Bush Sr.’s 1989 order weaponized it.

Richard Stevens, author and attorney for Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, pointed out decades ago that this exact strategy was used by the Nazis in 1938 — banning non-approved imports under the guise of “sporting use.”

Let’s be clear: the Second Amendment is not about trap shooting or deer season. As Tench Coxe, a delegate to the Continental Congress

Executive Action Could End It Tomorrow

What can be done by executive action can be undone by executive action. There’s no excuse for letting this stand — especially from a president who campaigned as a friend of the Second Amendment.

Ending the import ban would:

• Restore access to historically significant and affordable rifles for collectors and shooters.
• Force the gun-control crowd to lose their minds on live TV.
• Fire up gun owners ahead of 2026 midterms and crucial state elections like Virginia’s governor’s race.

Where Are the “Gun Rights” Groups?

If this is such an easy win, why hasn’t it been done? The bigger question: why aren’t the big-name membership gun groups hammering this issue daily?

They know the ban still exists. They know it could be lifted tomorrow. They claim to have the ear of the president — so why haven’t they made this a priority?

This is also why DOJ’s so-called Second Amendment Task Force needs actual gun owner representation, not just career bureaucrats. Gun owners deserve a seat at the table to influence priorities and hold leaders accountable.

The Bottom Line

“Stroke of the pen, law of the land,” Clinton aide Paul Begala once said about executive orders. Well, Mr. Trump — this is one stroke of the pen gun owners would actually cheer for.

Reclassify these rifles as “sporting.” End the 1989 ban. Stop the absurd 922r parts-count game. Let Americans import the rifles they have every right to own.

It’s lawful, it’s easy, and it would be very cool.