So, I was skimming through some of the 1012pg government funding bill that was released today (yes, I really do skim appropriations bills for fun sometimes) and on pg.63-64 there is a section that looks a whole lot like it affects the CMP…but I’m not totally sure what it means. Here is what it says:

“None of the funds available to the department of defense may be used to demilitarize or dispose of M-1 carbines, M-1 Garands, M-14 rifles, .22 caliber rifles, .30 caliber rifles, or M-1911 pistols, or to demilitarize or destroy small arms ammunition or ammunition components that are not otherwise prohibited from commercial sale under federal law, unless the small arms ammunition or ammunition components are certified by the secretary of the army or designee as unserviceable or unsafe for further use”

I THINK what this means is that the government can’t throw out guns and ammo that could potentially be sold through the CMP. However, I don’t know exactly how the CMP gets its guns and ammo, so I don’t know if transferring stuff from the DoD to the CMP counts as “disposing” of it or not. So, either this section is meant to make sure eligible guns will likely go to the CMP, or it completely kneecaps the CMP supply of M-1’s.

I was hoping someone else might have some insight into whether this section is good for the CMP or bad for it. It seems like it is probably a good thing. I just don’t know the details of how they get stuff well enough to be sure.

- Bret

I heard 'Benchmade' was lobbying against that part...It's a shame that made it's way in there anyway!

Seriously though, I'm pretty sure that means that they can't use the funding to destroy any of said Arms or Ammunition unless they're deemed unserviceable and/or unsafe. It would appear to be a good thing!

If so, I'm surprised they include M-14s.

Unlike the other small arms listed, they're machine guns under federal law ("once a machine gun, always a machine gun"), so can't be sold through the CMP anyway.

And there's not much (or any) demand from law enforcement agencies for M-14s through the LESO program.

Honestly, the blanket .22 and .30 cal rifles part seemed super-broad to me. The CMP just seemed to be the most likely candidate for this random section. I could be completely off base and it has some other goal in mind. I just don’t know what that might be!

- Bret