President Biden has taken a break from handing over hundreds of thousands of guns, helicopters, drones, and MRAPs to Islamist terrorists to ban Americans from purchasing blasters and bullets from Russian-based companies.
People were not happy at the news:
In the official order, which denies any new import permits for Russian-made wares, the Biden administration said this was all about sanctions for Putin's creative assassination attempts on his foes:
Pursuant to the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (the CBW Act), the United States will impose a second round of sanctions on the Russian Federation over its use of a "Novichok" nerve agent in the August 2020 poisoning of Russian opposition figure Aleksey Navalny.
New sanctions imposed today under the CBW Act include:
Restrictions on the permanent imports of certain Russian firearms. New and pending permit applications for the permanent importation of firearms and ammunition manufactured or located in Russia will be subject to a policy of denial.
Additional Department of Commerce export restrictions on nuclear and missile-related goods and technology pursuant to the Export Control Reform Act of 2018.
These sanctions also include a continuation of measures imposed on March 2, 2021, as well as in 2018 and 2019 in response to the poisoning of Sergey Skripal and his daughter, along with the waivers associated with these sanctions.
Don't get me wrong: I'm all for holding Putin and the Kremlin to account for their shady shadeness.
That being said, if it was SO important to sanction Russia, why did Biden cancel an American gas pipeline only to remove sanctions that allowed Russia to build its own?
And why the specific sanctions on guns and ammo?
Methinks this has little to do with the Big Guy trying to hurt Putin and everything to do with hurting the average American citizen.
Why, you ask?
Because Americans who are concerned about their government slowly boiling them in a totalitarian pot like to stockpile Russian-made firearms and ammunition.
The steel-case ammo isn't high quality, but it's cheap. Popular boomsticks like the Mosin-Nagant come from Russia, and 7.62mm calibers – popular alternatives to the 5.56/.223 standard found in many AR-15s – are Russia's bread and butter.
Popular gun site Ammoland had this to say:
Ending imports by licensed importers will not stop drug dealers, murderers, and other assorted street criminals.
It will, however, harm legitimate US businesses while driving up the cost of other ammunition due to more buyers chasing a smaller supply. It is clear to us that the intention is not to harm Russia but rather to hinder the acquisition of firearms and ammunition by American citizens.
Americans, who are already facing a years-long ammo shortage because of how much they've been stockpiling munitions recently, will now face even worse shortages. When you combine this with Biden's attempt to end online sales, you can see how the "moderate radical" is trying to shut off access to ammunition.
Cam Edwards over at Bearing Arms had this to add:
In the short term, not much will change for most gun owners. Cheap (at least relatively so) Russian ammo like Tulammo should still be available for sale here in the U.S., but as time goes on and existing permits expire gun owners will feel the effects of these particular sanctions, and far more than the Russians will. The sanctions are scheduled to last for twelve months, but could also be extended by the Biden administration instead of being allowed to expire, and my guess is they're not going away as long as Biden (and Putin) are in charge.
Hey, I suppose it's only fair. Sarcastically speaking, Biden is probably making sure the Taliban has "equitable" access to ammunition, because you can bet those vicious terrorists will be stocking up on lead from the Motherland!!
While this isn't an outright ban on all Russian-made guns and ammunition, it's as much a middle finger to gun owners as it is to Putin himself. And there's always the chance that Biden could impose further sanctions and attempt to suspend existing permits in a future round of sanctions. That impact would be swiftly felt across the retail market, whereas these newly imposed sanctions will be more of a slow burn.
They are coming for your guns, and then they are coming for everything else. It's okay though: Biden in his beneficence will still allow you peasants to own a shotgun with a shell or two!
For now.
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P.S. - Are you tired of watching your God-given right to keep and bear arms be infringed? Relax with this epic parenting fail involving Bigfoot, a bunch of balloons, and a 6-year-old's b-day party:
