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I once came across something about a federal government program that provided free rifles to Americans (1 Viewer)

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neil

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A while ago, I read something about a federal government program where Americans could request a rifle (it would be mailed to those who requested one), and they'd receive one for no charge. I don't remember what I read about it regarding when it existed, or if or when it ended.

I tried to search online for information about this program, but couldn't find anything about it & I'm pretty sure I didn't just imagine this.

Has anyone ever heard of such a program? Has it gone to the memory hole?
 
There's no memory hole. That's a made up thing to excuse made up stories. It's madness.

I'm sure that, at some point in history, the government gave away rifles. That shouldn't surprise anyone. Bribery generally takes the form of guns, cash and hookers. You can guess which the politicians were most inclined to hand out. They kept the cash and hookers. Those never became a government program.
 
neil said:
A while ago, I read something about a federal government program where Americans could request a rifle (it would be mailed to those who requested one), and they'd receive one for no charge. I don't remember what I read about it regarding when it existed, or if or when it ended.

I tried to search online for information about this program, but couldn't find anything about it & I'm pretty sure I didn't just imagine this.

Has anyone ever heard of such a program? Has it gone to the memory hole?
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There's the Civilian Marksmanship Program, aka CMP, which sold military surplus rifles to qualified applicants at a fairly good price, but I'm not aware of any free gun distribution program.
 
Rucker61 said:
There's the Civilian Marksmanship Program, aka CMP, which sold military surplus rifles to qualified applicants at a fairly good price, but I'm not aware of any free gun distribution program.
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CMP still exists. The only guns I saw for sale on their side were old Garands on auction for considerable prices.
 
Goshin said:
I think I just drooled a little...
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I bought several Garand rifles and several carbines from the OCMP and later the CMP (it went from a government agency to a private corporation). Some of the Garands were as original though with wear-some were arsenal rebuilds and two had new Krieger Barrels and stocks. Paid between 400-1000. The carbines I bought were mainly INLAND. which is not all that desirable as collectors (I also got a Saginaw, a National Postal Meter and a Winchester I bought from Fulton Armory built on new parts), they are among the best made and shoot very well. The costs were between 300-600 IIRC. I also bought two Kimber 22 single shot target rifles, and a couple Savage 22 target rifles and an anschutz PCP target air rifle that I am donating to my club's youth program today since my son no longer uses it
 
neil said:
A while ago, I read something about a federal government program where Americans could request a rifle (it would be mailed to those who requested one), and they'd receive one for no charge. I don't remember what I read about it regarding when it existed, or if or when it ended.

I tried to search online for information about this program, but couldn't find anything about it & I'm pretty sure I didn't just imagine this.

Has anyone ever heard of such a program? Has it gone to the memory hole?
Click to expand...

Sure, if you're Ukrainian, you might even get a Javelin missile too.
 
Roadvirus said:
Obama loved giving guns to drug cartels.
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I forgot about that. When I wrote that, I was thinking of all the rifles, pistols, submachine guns, and machine guns I was intimately involved in giving several Caribbean nations. We gave one nation- might have been Jamaica- some really beautiful M1D Garand sniper rifles that had probably been in cosmoline since Korea.
 
Rucker61 said:
AT one point M1 Carbines were $17.50 plus $2.50 shipping.
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My father got one in the early 60s. Yes, the Federal Government sold and mailed semi-automatic rifles with high capacity magazines directly to citizens. The only requirement was that you had to be a member of the NRA.

In the early 90s I got an M1 Garand for $165 from the CMP. I had to be an NRA or similar club member and I had to shoot a couple of rounds of rifle competition.
 
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natman said:
My father got one in the early 60s. Yes, the Federal Government sold and mailed semi-automatic rifles with high capacity magazines directly to citizens. The only requirement was that you had to be a member of the NRA.

In the early 90s I got an M1 Garand for $165 from the CMP. I had to be an NRA or similar club member and I had to shoot a couple of rounds of rifle competition.
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they later changed that to such things as holding a CCW, shooting in a Glock league etc. You are correct, at one time you had to belong to the NRA, hold a high-power classification card and belong to an affiliated club. Now its much easier since the DCM has been replaced with the CMP
 
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