US troops and captured weapons.

[faithless]

I hope this is the right sectoin. I have seen many photos of US troops with captured weapons. I ask becuase I know troops have brought home captured weapons from other conflicts and would like to know if it is legal or not.

[Death.]

I know that it use to be allowed in WW-2 - Korea, but it's not allowed nowadays, though soldiers still do it..don't know how.

[faithless]

Do you happen to know where I could happen to find that rule on the internet.

[Limeyfellow]

Its not legal to bring back anything like that. They have very strict rules on war trophys nowadays

http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/wars/a/wartrophies.htm is a good article about the subject.

[faithless]

Thanks for the article.But does anyone know why it was changed that a weapon is not a legal war trophy.

[scrybe]

I don't know the exact reason, but I think it's a combination of a few. One is that the current conflicts were not intended to be occupations, they were supposed to be liberations. It's not good to take from the people you are trying to give to.

Also, gun laws in the US prohibit importing many types of weapons, and fully automatic weapons are extremely documented. Since the initiation of the full-auto ban, it is illegal to create or bring new full-auto weapons into the US. All existing full-auto weapons are very well documented.

So, bringing a confiscated AK47 back to the US would be stealing from the Iraqi people, importing an illegal weapon, and importing an unregistered fully automatic weapon.

There may be other reasons as well, but those are the first few that come to mind.

[oregongrunt]

Uniform items - military blouses, trousers, berets, helmets, belts, sashes, boots and gloves.
Uniform accoutrements - military rank insignia, shoulder patches, shoulder straps, epaulets and buttons.
Individual equipment - gas masks, swagger sticks, cartridge belts, mess kits, canteens, ammunition pouches, map cases, compasses, binoculars and other optics.
Unit equipment - unit insignia, military photos, training manuals and training posters.
Other - nonlethal items conforming with the spirit and intent of expressed guidance.

Soldiers brought back lots of pistols, bayonets and other gear during the rotation back in 2004 from Iraq, legal or not.

[Limeyfellow]

http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r608_4.pdf

AR 608-4 Control and Registration of War Trophies and War Trophy Firearms should cover what you wanted to know. That was during the Ford administration where the ban was in place and it got even worse with the Bush sr ban on foreign military rifle with certain features. Theres other rules in place too.

[faithless]

I already found that but dont have adobe reader but thanks for the info guys.

[scrybe]

Here:
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:EC2wSdodT_cJ:www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r608_4.pdf+&hl=en&client=firefox-a

For future reference, if you find a pdf on google, you can choose to view it as an HTML right under the main link. I just copied and pasted the URL from Limeyfellow into google, then clicked the HTML option.

[faithless]

thanks for the hint.

[Roaming East]

...meh....

[PvtPyle]

pshht, my brother brought back two SVD's and an SVD knockoff of some sort. the mags from the latter where not interchangable with the former 2's though the former 2's would function in the latters.
if that made any sense

Providing this statement is true, if your brother imported these weapons for personal use, ie they did not go thru the system to registered and become unit property (in which case the unit would have brought them back, not your brother), he violated the law. I would not continue to post about it on the net since you are in the AF and easy for CID to trace back to your brother. TIFWIW.

Having been thru the nutroll and subsequent investigation for doing so legally and thru the channels (because some state IG hack could not figure out the regs and laws) I can tell you it is not much fun. Even when you did so within the law. And for the LT that carried home a pistol (this came out in their investigation), he paid a heavy price.

Additionally, once the military gets done with you, the ATF and Customs can get you on additional charges. For the weapons your brother brought home, that is three counts of illegal importation of a firearm, and two counts possession of an un-registered MG for the sears that are in all military SVD's.

[East Scout]

pshht, my brother brought back two SVD's and an SVD knockoff of some sort. the mags from the latter where not interchangable with the former 2's though the former 2's would function in the latters.
if that made any sense


Düngemittel or you're really stupid for posting that.......

[Limeyfellow]

Especially since the usual punishment nowadays is 25 years in prison for illicit arms smuggling.

[JoaMei]

pshht, my brother brought back two SVD's and an SVD knockoff of some sort. the mags from the latter where not interchangable with the former 2's though the former 2's would function in the latters.
if that made any sense

I would recommend to Edit this Message immidiately!

[East Scout]

To late its been quoted twice....Boy your brother is gonna beat your ass!

[DnA]

I hope this is the right sectoin. I have seen many photos of US troops with captured weapons. I ask becuase I know troops have brought home captured weapons from other conflicts and would like to know if it is legal or not.

During the Vietnam War it was allowed, but there were restrictions on what you could take back. My dad was allowed to bring back a SKS, the military had to deactivate(remove firing pin, plug the barrel) it though.



Now it isn't allowed for an individual to bring back "war trophies", but sometimes units are allowed to bring back a limited amount of rifles, flags, etc for them to show off in their lines back in the states.

[tehllama]

Screw that -- anything Saddamist would be a favor for us to take or destroy. Usable weapons should be donated to ING and Army, but I'd be all for bringing back deactiaved weapons that aren't readily usable or deemed safe. The zero ordinance policy makes sense, but weapons that can't be used by Iraqi forces should only be destroyed as an expedient to keep them out of enemy hands, dang. We didn't destroy enough of our WW2 surplus, but if we had better legal means of keeping track of it, then isn't not as bad.

[Major Maxillary]

What if you merely bought a legal firearm, like one of those arabic muskets, overseas, and wanted to send it home? not as a war trophy.


would they want to lock your ass up then?

[PvtPyle]

Weapons made before 1896, or replicas of them that do not fire conventional rounds are perfectly legal. There are forms in place at every JAG office (they have to notorize the form before you go to customs with the weapon) that cover these weapons.

For that matter, if you are in Turkey or a neighboring country, there is a way to purchase civilian legal current production firearms and get them sent home. But even then, the SVD is banned by its nomencalture and country of origin (China and Russia) from being imported.

So either way, this guy is either a liar, or his brother is a very lucky moron. After this post we will see if his luck holds.

[Major Maxillary]

What if I find a G3 or L1A1? can I send those home with the right form?

[PvtPyle]

Military weapons will not generally pass the sporting purposes test and are thus not importable. Sorry man.

[Roaming East]

It amazes me that 1) officers in the military can and do, do such things all the time and 2) that no one seems to be wise to the situation at hand. Oh well but for the sake of sparing further debate on the matter..

[East Scout]

Military weapons will not generally pass the sporting purposes test and are thus not importable. Sorry man.

No military reciever nor military style barrel are legally importable into the US for civilian reasons period.

[Uninen]

Its not legal to bring back anything like that. They have very strict rules on war trophys nowadays

http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/wars/a/wartrophies.htm is a good article about the subject.

War trophies are a very old military tradition, Cord said. He said the tradition goes back "even before there was an America."
Sorry just had to. rofl

[Major Maxillary]

No military reciever nor military style barrel are legally importable into the US for civilian reasons period.

not even with a C&R license?

[PvtPyle]

No military reciever nor military style barrel are legally importable into the US for civilian reasons period.

Not true. Enfields, Mosin Nagants, lend lease Garands and the classics are all viewed by the ATF as suitable for sporting purposes and pass the test the ATF has created to determine what is and is not sporting. In a nutshell, if it is a semi and has a pistol grip , and is not on the C&R list, it is not going to pass the test and get an approved form 6.