A couple months ago, President Obama declared a ban on the importation of Saiga and Kalashnikov Concern firearms to the United States. The stated reason was to punish the Russian government and people for their incursion into Ukraine. But as we all know, the Obama administration never misses an opportunity to screw over US gun owners by making firearms and ammunition more expensive and/or difficult to obtain. In an attempt to circumvent the newly-imposed restrictions, Kalashnikov Concern is reportedly in talks with a non-blacklisted buyer to purchase the company and restart US imports . . .

From Reuters:

Russia’s Rostec, a state-owned conglomerate hit by Western sanctions over Ukraine, will sell a small arms factory to a businessman who is not blacklisted to allow further sales to Europe and the United States, officials and sources said…. Created in 2007 by President Vladimir Putin, (Rostec) owns Kalashnikov, the maker of the Ak-47 assault rifle used in conflicts around the world. Parties to the deal told Reuters that businessman Andrei Bokarev will buy 75 percent of Rostec’s Izhmekh plant, whose products include hunting rifles and sporting guns.

As was demonstrated quite clearly thanks to the “assault weapons” ban of the 1990s, prohibition – no matter the product – doesn’t work. There’s always a way to work around the law, and while the President might be a fan of the Tarkin doctrine, when it comes to the economics of firearms, it has backfired every time it’s been tried. The more he tightens his grip on gun companies, one might say, the more guns will slip through his fingers.