Bryan Reo Writes To NATO- Small Arms Proliferation

http://bryanreo.blogspot.com/2011/05/bryan-reo-writes-to-nato-small-arms.html

By Bryan Reo

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


I wrote a letter to NATO with my suggestion for how to safely dispose of various surplus stockpiles of small arms and ammunition in former Warsaw Pact/East Bloc nations and a few other nations that were not Warsaw Pact members. As some readers may note, the proliferation of "small arms and light weapons" -mainly via lack of oversight/control over surplus stockpiles/caches- is a concern for NATO and other international organizations (mainly non-governmental lobby/interest organizations).


My letter-

Hello,

I was wondering if NATO would consider taking advantage of the opportunity to work with the new members of NATO that were formerly East Bloc nations, and other former East Bloc nations that are making progress to join NATO, to dispose of their old stockpiles of Soviet ammunition calibers by selling them to American ammunition importers/wholesalers. There would certainly be ample money earned to more than cover shipping costs and make the venture very profitable for all concerned. The ammunition being shipped to America would assure it could not possibly fall into the hands of various rebel/terrorist groups or other NGOs throughout the developing world or in any other way wind up being used to fuel any regional conflicts. There are even some opportunities for NATO to work with non-NATO members such as Kosovo, Ukraine, Angola, etc, nations that have varying amounts of stockpiles of mostly Soviet/East Bloc calibers and Soviet/East Bloc weapons. Additionally there are likely opportunities to work with nations that recently joined NATO, such as Croatia and Albania.

Furthermore, with the possibility of NATO governments benefiting financially via taxes/fees imposed on the transactions, they would be able to generate revenue that could be used for the disposal of weapons (such as MANPADS, grenades, rocket propelled grenade launchers, rocket propelled grenades, and explosives) that have no commercial/civilian use. By selling ammunition (and perhaps some pistols and semi-automatic rifles -such as the SKS carbine) that are legal under the laws of the United States of America, to importers/dealers in the USA, NATO would remove those items from circulation, eliminate the possibility of those items being delivered to conflict zones, and generate revenue that could be used to destroy dangerous weapons systems such as MANPADS and anti-tank weaponry. There is absolutely no reason why an SKS carbine, TT-33 pistol, or M-44 Nagant rifle should be destroyed at the expense of the NATO member states when those items can be sold for a profit to responsible citizens. Even AK-47s and AK-74s can be permanently converted to semi-automatic and then sold to certain NATO member states, or at least they can be turned into parts kits and then sold.

Under present American laws, most surplus ammunition could be imported with minimal difficulties, and if NATO members were to hold talks with the US State Department, it is possible that the doors could be opened for the full importation of a variety of previously prohibited Russian imports such as the Russian manufactured TT-33 Tokarev, Russian manufactured SKS, Russian manufactured SVT-40, etc, in addition to a variety of mild steel core ammunition from some of the East Bloc nations. The opportunities are simply too massive to pass up, especially with the economic downturn and the need for many nations to cut budgets. It is likely that safe and orderly disposal of surplus stockpiles has become a very low priority when a nation is faced with having to decide what to cut from the budget. Working in accordance with American law and selling those portions of stockpiles that are lawful for American citizens to own, to importers in the USA, will benefit NATO, American shooters, the governments that are burdened by the security costs of having to maintain security for the stockpiles, and the people in the conflict regions who would be impacted by the addition of those stockpiles into their nations.

American hunters, shooters, collectors, and firearms enthusiasts of all sorts certainly deserve the opportunity to obtain quality military surplus ammunition that should be sold and delivered to responsible gun-owners in a responsible NATO nation, rather than being destroyed at a massive cost (direct cost and opportunity cost) to the taxpayers of the NATO member states. The direct cost in destroying surplus stores of former East Bloc ammunition is certainly high enough without factoring in the opportunity cost that exists in regards to the lost opportunity to sell the ammunition and make substantial gains in the process. Once the surplus stockpiles are gone they are gone, it is that simple, and if they are just allowed to be blown up or burnt up, then the opportunities to benefit from their sale, to responsible citizens in a responsible nation, will be burnt up as well. Please don’t let those opportunities burn up.