By Dean Weingarten

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)- On Wednesday, 25 November, 2015, President Barack Hussein Obama signed the National Defense Authorization act.

He had vetoed the first version of the bill to reach his desk on 22 October, 2015, about a month ago.

In the latest version, S. 1356, there is a section, 1087, which re-authorizes the Civilian Marksmanship Program to sell surplus 1911 and 1911A1 pistols and their parts and accessories to the public.

The sales are limited to 10,000 per year. There are about 100,000 of these pistols available that are surplus, so they should be available for several years.

From the bill(pdf):

‘‘(h) AUTHORIZED TRANSFERS.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the

Secretary may transfer to the corporation, in accordance with the

procedure prescribed in this subchapter, surplus caliber .45 M1911/

M1911A1 pistols and spare parts and related accessories for those

pistols that, on the date of the enactment of this subsection, are

under the control of the Secretary and are surplus to the require-

ments of the Department of the Army, and such material as may

be recovered by the Secretary pursuant to section 40728A(a) of

this title. The Secretary shall determine a reasonable schedule

for the transfer of such surplus pistols.

‘‘(2) The Secretary may not transfer more than 10,000 surplus

caliber .45 M1911/M1911A1 pistols to the corporation during any

year and may only transfer such pistols as long as pistols described

in paragraph (1) remain available for transfer.’’.

I would have thought that the wording could simply have been changed to include surplus “pistols” not just 1911 and 1911A1s. Then surplus .22 caliber trainers, 9mm pistols, and .38 caliber revolvers would also have been available. Perhaps this is the best that the NRA felt they could get from this President.

The NRA-ILA reports that there are other important parts of the bill as well. Section 215 removes ammunition and ammunition components from any possibility of regulation by the EPA, something that has been pushed by disarmists for years, without success.

Section 526 creates the possibility for base commanders to authorize individuals to carry firearms for self defense, but it is a pretty weak reed.

From the bill:

SEC. 526. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROCESS BY WHICH MEMBERS OF THE

ARMED FORCES MAY CARRY AN APPROPRIATE FIREARM

ON A MILITARY INSTALLATION.

Not later than December 31, 2015, the Secretary of Defense,

taking into consideration the views of senior leadership of military

installations in the United States, shall establish and implement

a process by which the commanders of military installations in

the United States, or other military commanders designated by

the Secretary of Defense for military reserve centers, Armed Serv-

ices recruiting centers, and such other defense facilities as the

Secretary may prescribe, may authorize a member of the Armed

Forces who is assigned to duty at the installation, center or facility

to carry an appropriate firearm on the installation, center, or facility

if the commander determines that carrying such a firearm is nec-

essary as a personal- or force-protection measure.

I would have preferred that the phrase “such a firearm is necessary” had been changed to “such a firearm is useful”, which would have given the commanders much greater protection and flexibility. But it is better than nothing, and can be built on for the future.

So there is a small amount of good news included with the President's holding defense spending hostage to his desire for even more bloated non-defense spending.

I suspect that the military .45 pistols will sell quickly.

Definition of disarmist

c2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch

About Dean Weingarten;

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.