Civilian 7.62 To Be "Outlawed" By The UN
I thought I'd already posted this (but cannot see it) - if its been moved - sorry to re-post, but I believe its relevant to Enfield owners.
Its not a case of 'Chicken Little' - I read a lot on these long dark winter nights and no good news ever seems to be reported.
To save you opening a 74meg document I'd copied it verbatim - if you want to see the original, click the link.
Target Shooter Magazine – December 2009
Target Shooter December
5.56 and 7.62mm ‘Outlawed’
A perennial question is about the difference if any between 7.62X51mm and .308 Winchester (or 5.45X45mm and .223 Remington). And while there are small differences primarily in the chamber and barrel throat forms, they are so nearly indistinguishable that the UK national police firearms licensing computer uses both terminologies together either side of an oblique to avoid problems if an FAC variation is for one, but the firearm is marked and proof-tested for the other. This applies particularly to British and Commonwealth TR (‘Target Rifle’) rifles that were classed as 7.62mm until recently, although current builds or recently rebarrelled examples now bear the .308 Winchester descriptions.
None of this would be of any great import if it weren’t for the United Nations having started a crusade against international movements of military small arms and ammunition except on a government-to-government basis. The problem is that 5.56 and 7.62mm are classified as ‘military’ period, no matter that it’s a single-shot target rifle and your pride and joy. This is a particular problem for anybody traveling across international boundaries as an early result has been airlines, through their international regulator IATA, accepting these rules and refusing to carry anything so marked or documented, even if on a dual basis as in ‘7.62mm / .308 Winchester’. The next worry is that as countries sign up to the various UN accords on this issue, we’ll suddenly discover that somebody has done this for the UK and unwittingly made ownership of every .308 Win rifle in the country illegal as our FACs invariable use the dual title in listing the weapons held. In any event ICFRA, the international target shooting body which regulates full bore rifle including our ‘Target Rifle’ and F-Class, has deleted all reference to the metric versions of the two cartridges in its rules and documentation, and I imagine that applies to our NRA too.
Firearms law researcher and writer Colin Greenwood has been investigating this UN process and his findings must be deeply unsettling for all sporting and recreational firearms users. The sub-committees tasked with producing reports and recommendations that are often accepted by the UN with little or no debate are secretive, refusing to disclose their membership or the remits they are working to. They will not divulge the basis of ‘facts’ contained in their reports, how research was carried out and where, who
was interviewed and so on. One fact that is clear are that they will NOT make any distinction between civilian sporting arms, (even shotguns), and military weapons, and that they believe that arms ownership is a bad thing per se. Greenwood is convinced that this is a movement towards international civilian arms control via the back door under the cloak of keeping AKs and RPGs out of the hands of African child soldiers or guerrillas.
Things may get ‘worse’ too in that the proposed conventions seek to ban the manufacture of arms and ammunition of ANY type and ANY calibre, except by government licensed concerns which must be closely regulated. Quite right too you might think, but remember that your gunsmith is an ‘arms constructor’, and you are an ‘ammunition' manufacturer’ if you hand load. Until now, the US government has been a bastion against this sort of undemocratic backdoor control by routinely telling the UN to naff off! Not so now under Barak Obama, the State Department allegedly signaling a change of policy here, its first move being to announce that export licenses will not be issued for any barrel chambered for 5.56 or 7.62 NATO destined for a commercial end-user.
Export of 7.62x51 rifles from the USA
Gents, I just printed the approved DSP5 permanent export license issued by the Office of Defense Trade Control, U.S. Dept. of State and there is a proviso that I've never encountered before. Here's your answer to the creeping changes being implemented by the UN of which the USA has now signed on. It states the following:
FYI: I'm the applicant as a DTC registrant.
APPLICANT MUST NOTIFY THE END USER IN WRITING THAT THE RSAF ENFIELD L42A1, CAL. 7.62X51 BOLT ACTION RIFLE, SN. AMXXXX, CANNOT BE RESOLD OR TRADED WITHOUT THE PRIOR APPROVAL OF THE US GOVERNMENT. APPLICANT MUST UPLOAD THE NOTIFICATION INTO D-TRADE UNDER THIS LICENSE NUMBER WITHIN 15 DAYS OF ITS APPROVAL.
There you have it. The facts as promised. Brian
