SITREP

By Dan Shea

Bill Fleming is responsible for a very large percentage of the registered HK machine guns in the US today. He made over 3,400 registered transferable HK sears, among other things. Even if you weren’t around back then, if you own NFA weapons, the odds are that Bill has touched your life in some way. Bill has been out of the business since 1994 due to his legal problems, but from 1984 to 1994, Bill was a well known Class 2 personality. His wife Kathy is now suffering from severe cancer problems that are detailed on the website set up for her. She is raffling off an HK51K .308 caliber machine pistol to raise money for her treatments. This was one of Bill’s most flamboyant and famous designs, and this one was used in Steven Seagal’s movie “Marked for Death.” Please take a moment to look at their website and wish her well. http://hstrial-wfleming.homestead.com/index.html

This issue is headed out to SHOT Show in Orlando and it is immediately prior to the inauguration ceremony for President-Elect Obama. There are many in the Democratic Party who are saying that one of their first priorities is to reinstate the so-called Assault Weapons & High Capacity Magazine Ban, without the sunset provision, of course. Regardless how this silly, pointless, and impotent piece of onerous legislation had zero effect on “crime” in the ten years it was in effect the last time, they still want to have one passed. It will accomplish nothing more than to annoy and impeded legitimate firearms owners, and increase the costs of their collecting. So, the panic buying has begun, and will probably continue.

This author would like to continue the mantra of “buy it because you want it and can afford it” and to discourage panic buying and selling; urging people instead to look at their wants and budgets and go buy what fits. During the panic of first Ban, I was in a gunshop in New Hampshire and watched a young man and his very pregnant wife drive in with a very old car. He was scraping together his dollars to pay $1,600 for a Norinco AK semi-auto. She was in tears, he was angry, saying it would be his last and only chance to own an AK. Clearly, this was beyond his means and a year later it was worth less than half what he paid. Sad story… and avoidable.

I do not want to dissuade anyone from spending their money on firearms or related parts. Certainly, our advertisers would string me up from the nearest light pole. However, the majority of the advertisers you see in SAR are long term, with a good reputation, and solid inventory pricing. Plan what you want, and buy accordingly.

That said, the world seems ready to come unglued right now in many ways and places. I just made it out of South-East Asia recently as protesters closed the airports. Hundreds of thousands of us cooled our heels for 4 or 5 days waiting for government action to end the dispute. Various factions thumped 40mm HE at each other causing the usual “forty people in a room, round comes in, one dead, thirty-nine wounded” and street fights where one group overwhelmed another until the few people with handguns could drive them back. I’ve seen too many refugees in my life, and there’s a common thread among people who have seen that; “I don’t wanna be no refugee.” There is insurance you can take out for that purpose, and of course, it involves living in a smart place, and the private ownership of firearms.

So, in ending, I would like to temper my statement above regarding firearms purchases. By all means buy the things you want, and make sure you have some good, solid, defensive weapons in there as well. -Dan