Most gun control schemes do little, if anything, to positively effect change in criminal trends. In fact, such schemes have largely proven to be economically illiterate attempts to restrict and regulate the private ownership of firearms. And examples of the bad economics of gun control just keep piling up. I know, I know: Not everything is about the bottom line; but when the bottom line suffers in a misguided attempt to forward useless gun bans, I think it starts to matter a little bit more. In the latest example of gun-control killing private businesses, Century International Arms is laying off 41 employees in Vermont, due to the Obama Administration’s “common sense” executive actions aimed at curbing “gun violence”.
Remember how the Obama Administration decided our Constitutional republic was a little too confining for his personal taste, and decided to start using a “phone and a pen” to effect change? Well, in the Administration’s imperial manner, Obama signed a number of anti-gun executive orders (because it’s such a hassle to get things done with the consent of Congress). One of those executive decrees orders banned the importation of “military grade” weapons from overseas.
The term “military grade” conjures up images of RPGs, fully automatic M16s, and other tools of modern militaries across the globe. Apparently, the term also refers to antique firearms last used in the Korean War. World War II era M1 Garand rifles, from the Korean conflict, were set to be shipped back stateside and sold (through Century International Arms) to legal gun brokers and collectors. But now, with the importation blocked by our Anti-Gunner in Chief, as part of his “common sense” assault on the Second Amendment, Century Arms is forced to “recalibrate” its workforce.
Right… Because antique WWII and Korean era rifles are such a clear and present threat to the security of the nation. Calling the M1 a “military grade weapon” is like calling a cap and ball Colt revolver a “military grade sidearm”… I mean, heck, it was a military weapon once upon a time. Today, however, it is mostly a collector’s item. After all, a 70 year old rifle (chambered in the same caliber as modern hunting rifles) isn’t exactly a popular weapon for drive-bys, home invasions, or mass shootings. And just to drive the point home that this Obama-approved (job killing) restriction is as useless as it is moronic: The US Government still offers these M1 rifles to the general public as part of the Civilian Marksmanship Program.
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So, it’s OK for the government to sell you an M1 rifle… But heaven forbid an American company get their hands on some obsolete M1’s in Korea. (Maybe if Century Arms just sets up a drug cartel operation in Mexico, they can have Eric Holder sell them some guns directly.)
Of course, this kind of senseless economic havoc, in the name of battling some liberal straw-man, is really nothing new. And it certainly isn’t unique to anti-gun policies… It actually seems pretty common among liberal and progressive initiatives. Obamacare (AKA: The Affordable Care Act) has been killing jobs, hiking premiums, and lowering care… All in the name of “fixing” healthcare. Cap and Trade (or the EPA’s unilateral implementation of similar standards) will directly result in outrageous electric bills, and hundreds of thousands of jobs lost… All in the name of reducing a naturally occurring element, known as carbon.
Gun politics are often a prime example of the left’s focus on public relations, and not public interest. Intentions, apparently, are the only things that matter in liberal ideology. All that is important to this Administration is that they are seen taking “common sense” steps toward reducing “gun violence”. The fact that their actions are neither “common sense” nor effective is, apparently, unimportant… After all, 41 jobs in Vermont is a small price to pay for a little positive PR spin in DC.
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