Thursday - April 15, 2010
A rarity in government
And they say that a government program, once established, lasts forever. Here’s part of one that seems to have fallen by the wayside.
In 1903 an Act of Congress established the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice (NBPRP), in an effort to train the citizenry in the art of shooting. In 1921 that task was expanded, so that the government would not only continue this training, but provide rifles and ammunition ... and places to practice.
section 113 of the 1916 National Defense Act as amended by the year 1921.
Encouragement Of Rifle Practice.—The Secretary bf War shall annually submit to Congress recommendations and estimates for the establishment and maintenance of indoor and outdoor rifle ranges, under such a comprehensive plan as will ultimately result in providing adequate facilities for rifle practice in all sections of the country. And that all ranges so established and all ranges which may have already been constructed, in whole or in part, with funds provided by Congress shall be open for use by those in any branch of the military or naval service of the United States and by all able-bodied males capable of bearing arms, under reasonable regulations to be prescribed by the controlling authorities and approved by the Secretary of War. That the President may detail capable officers and noncommissioned officers of the Regular Army and National Guard to duty at such ranges as instructors for the purpose of training the citizenry in the use of the military arm. Where rifle ranges shall have been so established and instructors assigned to duty thereat, the Secretary of War shall be authorized to provide for the issue of a reasonable number of standard military rifles and such quantities of ammunition as may be available for use in conducting such rifle practice.
Source, see page 42
Of course, to make this provision work, the government created a whole new department, called the Office of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship, commonly called the DCM. They took over for the NBPRP. Not only was the job of the DCM to promote rifle practice and to create rifle ranges, their job was to actively arm the civilian population by selling them, at or below cost, surplus military rifles. Same as the NBPRP, but they went at it with enthusiasm. For 76 years the DCM program ran, and distributed millions of guns to the people. Millions. The basic qualification was that you had shown an interest in shooting by entering an official event or two. After that, send in a little money and we’ll send you a gun.
In 1996 the DCM, which had been run by the Army for generations, was privatized. The new group was called the Corporation for the Promotion of Rifle Practice and Firearms Safety, Inc., ie the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP), and is no longer directly funded by the government. They get their funding indirectly, by selling the citizenry those same surplus rifles, along with surplus ammunition.
Once upon a time you could pick up a brand new, never issued, never fired M1 rifle for about $20. Those days are long gone. About 30 years ago people started thinking that these rifles were collector’s items, even though more than 5.5 million of them had been made over the years, and the demand skyrocketed. So did the price. And the DCM/CMP inventory pretty much evaporated. These days, while you can go out an buy a brand new M1 for around $1200 with all new hand fit parts, even the “new” version chambered for the more modern 7.62 NATO cartridge, CMP still has a small supply, and will sell you one in various conditions for between $500 and $1500. The new rifles built by Springfield have no sense of history, while the ones sold by CMP were once owned by the military and may have seen famous service at some point. They will also sell you a fully rebuilt rifle, new barrel, new stocks, original receiver, made up of parts, guaranteed to be a decent shooter, for under $1000.
But I haven’t heard of a single government run public rifle range being opened in my lifetime. I don’t know that that ever even happened. Instead, citizens are allowed occasional access to most military ranges. So instead of a rare case of a government program petering out, we have an even rarer case of a government program being run intelligently and saving money, by a now privatized group that is self-funding. Maybe these guys should run the Post Office.
I’d like one of these rifles, though I am not sure that The People’s Utopia of New Jersey even allows me to own one. The M1A (civilian M14) is a better weapon in many ways, but I assume NJ won’t let me own one of those. Evil assault weapon you know.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/15/2010 at 10:25 AM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (4)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Five Most Recent Trackbacks:
Once Again, The One And Only Post
(4 total trackbacks)
Tracked at iHaan.org
Thｅ advantage to having a guide with you is thɑt an expert will haѵe very first hand experience dealing and navigating the river with гegional wildlife. Tһomas, there are great…
On: 07/28/23 10:37
The Brownshirts: Partie Deux; These aare the Muscle We've Been Waiting For
(3 total trackbacks)
Tracked at head to the Momarms site
The Brownshirts: Partie Deux; These aare the Muscle We’ve Been Waiting For
On: 03/14/23 11:20
Vietnam Homecoming
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at 广告专题配音 专业从事中文配音跟外文配音制造，北京名传天下配音公司
专业从事中文配音和外文配音制作，北京名传天下配音公司 北京名传天下专业配音公司成破于2006年12月，是专业从事中 中文配音 文配音跟外文配音的音频制造公司，幻想飞腾配音网领 配音制作 有海内外优良专业配音职员已达500多位，可供给一流的外语配音，长年服务于国内中心级各大媒体、各省市电台电视台，能满意不同客户的各种需要。电话：010-83265555 北京名传天下专业配音公司…
On: 03/20/21 07:00
meaningless marching orders for a thousand travellers ... strife ahead ..
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Casual Blog
[...] RTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPL [...]
On: 07/17/17 04:28
a small explanation
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at yerba mate gourd
Find here top quality how to prepare yerba mate without a gourd that's available in addition at the best price. Get it now!
On: 07/09/17 03:07
DISCLAIMER
THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.
Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
- Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.
Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner
Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
RSS 2.0 
Atom 
