Milsurp 1911 (courtesy bestmilitarysurplus.com)

“Psst. Want an untraceable gun? Courtesy of Congress and the U.S. military?” Well, yes, actually. Why do I get the idea that the huffingtonpost.com is teasing me? “That may soon be possible thanks to a provision tacked onto this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, which the House of Representatives is set to pass this week.” So I “may” be able to get an untraceable gun from Uncle Sam? Which means I may not. What are the odds? “According to a white paper prepared for Congress by the Army opposing the amendment, the measure would allow the unregulated distribution of up to 100,000 Colt .45s, more formally known as .45-caliber semiautomatic M1911 handguns.” Unregulated? Wait. What? . . .

Rogers’ amendment would change language in the law that specifies certain rifles allowed in the program to include the much broader category of “firearms.”

Although the marksmanship program aims to educate youth about safety and shooting, according to the military’s white paper, “There is a significant risk of approximately 100K semi-automatic handguns that are virtually untraceable, being released into commerce.”

Untraceable? Don’t the guns have serial numbers on them? I bet they do.

That’s because although the amendment specifies that the weapons cannot be sold to people who are barred by law from having guns, the CMP sells guns over the Internet, and has no mechanism to verify who is making purchases.

Over the internet? As in straight to the buyer’s door? I don’t think so. Anyway, why not just require the sale to go through an FFL? That way you get a federal background check (more’s the pity).

A spokesman for Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said his boss agreed with the Army and would try to strip the amendment.

“This provision, which the Army has said it does not want or need, could potentially put nearly 100,000 untraceable .45-caliber military-grade handguns on our streets,” the spokesman, Michael Amato, said in an email. “This provision is an unnecessary risk.”

Politicians who restrict Americans’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms put their fellow countrymen at unnecessary risk. But that doesn’t seem to stop them. Anyway, what’s the bet collectors of milsurp 1911 are in danger of a sudden devaluation in the value of their guns? [h/t MN]

78 COMMENTS

  1. I got a couple M1’s from the cmp. Took 3 months. I think criminals will go somewhere a bit quicker for their “untraceable” guns. Considering the criteria you need to use the CMP.

    • There is also the membership requirement that I doubt they want to deal with. Thesw Pols are panic driven lemmings that don’t so much as bother to look into the facts or even the context of a situation before they smack their pudgy mits on the ban button.

    • And they even did a background check on you.
      All CMP firearm transfers include the same call to the FBI that buying from your local FFL include.

  2. This is my surprised face. :-I I knew it wouldn’t be long before the hoplophobes would be weeping and gnashing their teeth. I’d direct them to actually investigate the requirements for using the CMP…but that’d just make them flip out about the Garands and Enfields too.

  3. How is it the Army’s problem if 100,000 handguns make it out onto the street? Is that part of their charter and mission statement, to care about this? Does the white paper actually claim the distribution would be unregulated? Who is giving them credibility to define what ‘regulated’ even means in this case?

    It seems the Army is obviously full of incompetents (at least those in charge of warehousing and distribution of weapons) who feel the need to assert some power over us the ‘civilians’.

    • From the sound of it you’d think they were just going to drive a deuce and a half around the inner-city throwing 1911s and boxes of 45ACP out the back.

    • I was wondering the same thing. They are currently paying to warehouse all of these 1911’s that are never going to be issued again, and haven’t been issued to anyone (outside of some frames that served as the base for highly tuned SF sidearms) for decades. Why wouldn’t they want to liquidate them and get a fair market value in return? I guess they want to continue giving a handful of them away a year to local PD’s and maybe sometime next century they’ll finally be gone.

      • The cost to warehouse those 1911s is being bourne by you and me, the taxpayers. Army brass isn’t interested in saving money.

    • Meanwhile I read somewhere that it is costing 200K a year in storage fees. BTW NY, NJ,CT still need to go thru FFL dealer.

  4. “Anyway, why not just require the sale to go through an FFL? That way you get a federal background check (more’s the pity).”

    No need for an FFL, the CMP works with the feds to do a background check on everyone who purchases a firearm. Figured you might have known that already, but I guess not.

    • Unfortunately, depending on your location, despite the CMP doing a background check your state may require the weapon to be transferred via an FFL. With another background check. And of course the state collecting their fee… CMP how they’ll ship to different states and clearly indicate that state/local laws must be complied with, including firearm owner IDs and such-like…

    • I came here to add, I filled out a whole bunch more “traceable” paperwork for my Garand from the CMP than any other firearm I own.

  5. The provision, added by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), changes parts of federal rules that were meant to boost rifle skills in the country under a program dating back to Teddy Roosevelt.

    The “reporter” (and I use that word in the loosest of senses) threw that in there to let you know how outdated the program is. But it also triggers the question of why almost no CMP guns have shown up at crime scenes over the past century.

    And 1800 “Colt 45s” being used in crimes in 10 years? Even that I find hard to believe. Show me the numbers.

  6. I could almost hear their voice cracking as they gasped out “military grade” when referring to these pistols. Yeah these pistols are so dangerous and yet they aren’t even covered by any single provision of the NY safe act.

    • Exactly. These are the exact guns they tell us are actually safe for us to own. Perhaps we can sell them on the notion that the bullets are slower moving, thus less deadly?

      • Wait… so if a gun is a low quality “Saturday night special,” it’s not safe for us to own. But if it’s a high quality “military grade” gun, then it’s not safe for us to own. I — but — gah!

        • I applaud you dude, as you CAN see through the !@#$%^&* way that the average politician “thinks”.

          Wait……..Hold up…….politician…….think.

          Those two words together………………………..are an oxymoron

          A thinking politician…………………..as if that were even possible

        • Just so you’re aware- “Saturday Night Special” is a racist term (according to amici briefs filed by the Congress of Racial Equality in various cases/ Heller, Peruta etc.)

          It is derived from the term “N——-town Saturday Night”, from their filing in Peruta:

          “[I]t is difficult to escape the conclusion that the ‘Saturday Night Special’ is emphasized because it is cheap and it is being sold to a particular class of people. The name is sufficient evidence. The reference is to ‘N—–town [edited out the full term which does appear in the brief] Saturday Night.’” B. Bruce-Briggs, The Great American Gun War, 45 Pub. Interest 37, 50 (1976).”

      • Are these 100,000 pistols real World War One 1911’s like in the photo?

        I can dream, can’t I?

  7. God damnit… Quit linking for Huff-Po hit pieces. Every time I read one, I hear the a sound of a few thousand brain cells crying out in terror and being suddenly silenced.

    • ditto. Use the National Enquirer for a source

      Actually, I believe it was demonstrated a could years ago that the NE was SUBSTANTIALLY more reliable source than any “main stream” libtard news media source (TV, newspaper, magazine)

  8. I’m totally imagining Parker Lewis Can’t Lose with Parker’s friend Jerry emerging from a locker opening his trenchcoat with a crapload of .45s velcroed all on the inside. “Hey, mister…”

  9. To purchase a firearm from the CMP, a buyer needs to fill out a detailed order form containing the certification that a buyer would make on form 4473, provide evidence of indentity and CMP eligibility (membership in a CMP-affiliated gun club etc.), a copy of the buyer’s CCW if required by his state, and then CMP runs a NICS check on the buyer.

    And yes, CMP will deliver the firearm to your door — just like C&R firearms can be delivered to your door if you hold a C&R FFL.

    • I think what he’s saying is that they could require that pistols be delivered via an FFL (unlike rifles). Having just completed my first CMP order, there is certainly lots of paperwork and copies of documents that need to be provided, but I suppose a sufficiently industrious identity thief could fake it all up. Or he could expend 5% of that effort and simply find someone to sell him an illegal gun.

    • CMP is just like any other legit online retailer- except they are much more careful, and require more documentation.

      Took me 30 seconds to find out procedure to ship to states with requirements to do business thru an FFL.

      The HuffPo writer clearly did not do his homework, or more likely simply wrote what he was contracted to write.

      Remember Ryan Halliday, who writes for HuffPo, explains how this works in “Trust Me, I’m Lying”.

      Write something bogus at a blog or mid-level site, like HuffPo, hoping it will be “traded up the chain” by content hungry “journolists” and editors at national brand names, to get credibility, and to generate page views, which equals revenue.

      HuffPo is no more about the news than, MSNBC, or CNN for that matter – just more disreputable, if thats even possible.

      • its not like all the crooks out there are going to be buying these beat to crap 1911s.
        Why would I want to buy a rattling old junker, when I could go to the gun dealer and get one that works, or better, a Glock.

        (hehehe…running for cover…)

  10. Now here’s a thought. It seems to me that the CMP needs to be updated to sell off all those surplus M14s, M16A2s and A4s that we have lying around. Sounds like something we can add to the next NDAA. The Demokkkrats have zero ability to pull it out of the bill on their own and O’bung’hole will tank all of Hitlary’s presidential prospects if he vetoes the NDAA in an election year.

    • They could sell anything they wanted. The amendment changes the current wording, to just “firearms”, so i’d imagine they could sell any guns they wanted at that point.

  11. Adam Smith represents the district where I live. During the last election, whenever I saw his signs, I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of a man who so thoroughly opposes free market principles being named “Adam Smith”.

    I looked up his record and apparently he’s a “moderate” democrat, which means he agrees with the democrat establishment about raising taxes, transferring wealth (primarily to his campaign donors), and banning fun stuff like guns in the name of public safety, and he agrees with establishment republicans about waging war on the earth (primarily to transfer wealth to his campaign donors) and spying on the American people to keep us in line.
    He’s a win-win for fascism!

  12. Delivery to FFL who has to record inventory transfers. Boom, illegal [national] registry of firearms.

  13. “.45-caliber military-grade handguns”

    Does military-grade mean beat to hell and handled by more men than a Las Vegas hooker?

    Of course, I have every intention of buying one.

    • Sign me up!

      I will pick up the most beat to hell one they have to build into a single stack race gun!

    • Gotta agree with you here. I was the weapons custodian for my squadron and I have never seen so many mistreated firearms.

  14. Over the internet? As in straight to the buyer’s door? I don’t think so.

    I got an M1 Garand that way, straight to my door. That was probably the best piece of mail I’ve ever received.

    There’s a ton more paperwork buying a gun from the CMP than buying one from Cabela’s or the local gun store, so I’m not sure what orifice they’re pulling that “untraceable” shit from, but it’s pretty easy to debunk that claim. But yes, the CMP does ship guns right to your door. I would have thought you’d know that, Robert, since this site has published articles explaining the process in detail.

    • But you really can’t buy one over the internet, thecmp.org site clearly states:

      “Rifles and receivers may only be ordered through mail order. The CMP does not accept telephone, fax, or online orders for firearms.”

      It also goes into detail on complying with all state and local laws, many of which require going through an FFL.

  15. who gives a EXPLETIVE DELETED. what the EXPLETIVE DELETED are you going to lawfully use your gun for that requires it to be untraceable? i would even settle for one instance where you lawfully used your hand gun and it being untraceable somehow got you the upper hand. it makes no sense. just fear mongering.

    • Now, Preston, that’s my Congressman you’re talking about. We have standards here in WA-9, and you’re not nearly living up to them. The next time you mention him, try to use at least 50% more EXPLETIVE DELETEDs. 😉

  16. These jackasses at the huffington post obviously never served. Anything more significant than a roll of toilet paper or a pencil is always serialized and accounted for. At least that’s how it was when I was a young Marine.

  17. After reading some of the posts on Huffington’s site, I have truly begun to realize how clueless the genpop really is, and moronic!

  18. “Military grade” weapons, of a gun already sold to civilians by every major firearm manufacturer in the US.

    SMH. The stupid is strong with these ones.

  19. I think the Army wants to hang on to their 1911s. This “untraceable military grade weapons” line is just their way of garnering support. If I want this miltary grade weapon I can go buy one from Springfield, RIA, Sig, Remington, Ruger, Auto-Ordinance, Kimber, Wilson Combat and god knows who else.

    • I think the Army has been told what to do by SecDef, who answers to POTUS.
      This is no different than Obama deciding not to allow the S.Koreans to sell their used Garands back to the CMP, for resale in their program for civilian education, as had been the universal practice in past.

      • The only suprise here is now much better the spin and agitprop has gotten on this issue, since before the elections of 2014, and the massive fail of gun control post Sandy Hook.

        Clearly, its obvious that Talking Point Memos and Media Matters have been outed as too obvious, so more private methods, like Center for American Progress, or one of their hired PR outfits that services Everytown, etc, to put out a contract for fake news pieces to be written, including at HuffPo to generate spin for faux news to trade up the chain, to generate credibility at NYT, or WAPO, to propagandize to the LIVs,
        to make this latest gun-grab less of an issue.

        Do not doubt that there is a coordinated, under-the-radar campaign under way to enact gun-control by Executive Action, legal or not, before Obama is out Jan 2017. There is no downside for Left-Progressives “to double down, to push through the resistance” (Alinsky), and “ends justify the means” (V.I. Lenin) to achieve something rather than abandon the 40 years of work for the Progressive v.2.0 agenda.

        I’m sure you’ve seen the news that Bloomie is launching his own version of gun “reporting” with Jennifer Macisa, the former NYT moderator/censor of Joe Noceras now defunct anti-gun blog at NYT, as co-producer. Recall that at the same time she was “curating” NYTs gun reporting, she was coordinating NY Chapter of Moms Demanding Action recruiting, news, and media collaboration.

        • If he was going to issue some executive order he would have done so by now. He isn’t going to issue an order that a Republican President would revoke a few days later.

      • I disagree. The Army has made its intention clear to replace the 9mm with a larger round. Giving away M1911s will undermine their case for a larger caliber.

  20. Hurry up and pass the bill so we can see what’s in it! I mean, so we can see what the CMP is going to charge and when they will be available to buy. I have a CMP order form on my desk ready to go.

  21. There is a distinction between a difference of opinion and a lie. This article is a lie. I think it’s time we start putting reasonable common sense restrictions on those who would call themselves professional journalists.

    Journalists who deliberately misrepresent facts to fit a narrative are socially destructive and should be held to strict standards of accountability.

    • And here is the proof:
      http://thecmp.org/cmp_sales/rifle_sales/eligibility-requirements/
      Note it states: “The information you supply on your application will be submitted by the CMP to the FBI National Instant Criminal Check System (NICS) to verify you are not prohibited by Federal, State or Local law from acquiring or possessing a rifle. Your signature on the Purchaser Certification portion of the purchase application authorizes the CMP to initiate the NICS check and authorizes the FBI to inform CMP of the result. IMPORTANT: If your State or locality requires you to first obtain a license, permit, or Firearms Owner ID card in order to possess or receive a rifle, you must enclose a photocopy of your license, permit, or card with the application for purchase.”
      This is for rifles, as that is all that they sell at the moment, but pistols will be no different. This is how it has always been done, whatever gibberish that pours out of the anti’s and media’s pill-crazed heads.

  22. Email your reps. This isn’t a hard sell. Historical old war horses going to good homes instead of languishing in dark armories on the tax payers dime.

  23. “…untraceable…”

    You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.

  24. Shut up about “military grade” already. It does nothing a civilian handgun can’t do, and it was made by the lowest bidder.

  25. It’s so funny watching the zoo animals at the HuffPo try to wrap their tiny, ignorant minds around a subject they write about.

    That’s the optimistic approach, of course. The pessimist approach is more likely. Their the modern pravda intentionally fear mongering and deceiving their mouth breathing reader base.

  26. “Anyway, what’s the bet collectors of milsurp 1911 are in danger of a sudden devaluation in the value of their guns? ”
    No bet. This is why one should never collect guns that have a large amount of them sitting in storage somewhere. Because the supply is therefore subject to a giant increase whenever some burrocrat says so. In a collector market, that can mean the loss of all that value that you assumed existed. It DID exist, at one time. Subject to said unnamed burrocrat’s whims, OFC.
    This is the same reason why people don’t want to collect Rugers. Ruger has a history of reintroducing cancelled models whenever collectors start to drive the value up. And each time, when the firearm starts being made again, the collector value dies out. Collectors want things in limited supply, and when the supply returns, the collectors go elsewhere. And collectors do not want the value of their collection subject to the whims of the Ruger group(or anonymous burrocrats either).

  27. It’s pretty sad that nobody calls out the media and politicians when they lie, even when they do so openly and blatantly. This is one of such examples. Even setting aside the issue of whether any guns need to be “traced” or “registered” to begin with, CMP does perform background checks when sending out guns. So this is just more blatant fearmongering from the usual lying dishonorable suspects.

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