AK-47s Headed to U.S. Had Legal Permits

[NickB79]

"WASHINGTON (AP) - A U.S.-bound shipment of thousands of AK-47 assault rifles and other combat-type weapons, seized by Italian authorities who suspected they were being smuggled, actually have legal permits to be imported, American officials said Wednesday.

About 7,500 AK-47s, AKM rifles and other weapons worth an estimated $6 million were seized April 20 aboard a Turkish-flagged ship in the port of Gioia Tauro. They were bound for New York from Romania."

Turns out they were to be disassembled and the perfectly legal parts sold as repair kits to gun owners who already own AK's, or to reassemble into rifles that comply with the 1994 AWB.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4031702,00.html

[truthspeaker]

1. that explains why my shipment was late!

j/k

[thecrow]

2. yeah okay right sure

They were probably going to plant them in a mosque and then pull a raid...

[ET Awful]

3. Mmmmhmmmm. . .

They always ship new merchandise fully assembled so that it can be disassembled and sold as parts. . . . . .

Why does this sound like complete bullshit to me?

[Xithras]

6. Not really

The AK is the worlds most popular rifle for many reasons, among them the fact that it's extremely easy to break them down for cleaning & repair. For example, if they were planning on breaking the guns into receiver/barrel/stock lots, there are only like two screws that need to be removed to do so (admittedly, it's been 15 years since I've handled an AK), and buying the parts as complete rifles is often cheaper than buying them as parts (my father owns a pre-ban Chinese SKS, and a replacement receiver for the thing costs almost as much as the gun itself).

Buying this many complete rifles to use as parts isn't exactly a standard practice, but it isn't unheard of either.

[DoNotRefill]

7. probably...

because you haven't had much experience dealing with the gun laws in the US.

They're BEYOND screwy. For example, to be able to re-import certain Smith and Wesson revolvers into the US, the importer must remove the original 2 inch barrel, put on a 4 inch barrel, import them, and then when they get into the US, remove the 4 inch barrel and replace it with a 2 inch barrel.

Also, at least some of the guns were made in WWII, and were military surplus (I base this on photographs released by the Italian press, one of which showed a cop holding up a WWII MG-34, which went out of production world-wide in 1945). They weren't "new".

[Q]

4. I'd like to know WHERE they were being shipped...

...and just who ordered them.

[DoNotRefill]

8. They were being shipped to Century Arms International.

a company which makes "sporterized", US-legal, firearms out of military guns. They also sell parts kits.

[EV1Ltimm]

5. someone here had stated that was prolly the case...

when it was first reported. they deserve a cookie.