[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 15, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5095-S5097]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself and Mr. Bumpers):
  S. 1761. A bill to eliminate taxpayer subsidies for recreational 
shooting transfer of federally owned weapons, ammunition, funds, and 
other property to the private Corporation for the Promotion of Rifle 
Practice and Firearms Safety; to the Committee on Armed Services.


      the self-financing civilian marksmanship program act of 1996

 Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I introduce the Self Financing 
Civilian Marksmanship Program Act of 1996. I'm pleased that Senator 
Bumpers is joining me in introducing this legislation.
  The goal of this legislation is simple: to block the transfer of a 
$76 million Federal endowment to American gun clubs.
  The Defense Department concluded long ago that the Army-run Civilian 
Marksmanship Program does not serve any military purpose. Even so, 
until recently the program was sustained by an annual $2.5 million 
Federal subsidy.
  To extricate the Army from this program, while ensuring a steady 
stream

[[Page S5096]]

of firearms to gun enthusiasts, pro-gun Members of Congress established 
a so-called private nonprofit version of the program in the fiscal year 
1996 Department of Defense authorization bill.
  In reality, the new corporation is private in name only. In fact, 
Congress blessed it with a multimillion-dollar endowment.
  When the corporation becomes fully operational in October 1996, it 
will take control of 176,218 rifles worth more than $53 million. It 
will receive $4.4 million in cash and be given property valued at $8.8 
million. Even more remarkable, the corporation will be given control of 
146 million rounds of ammunition worth $9.7 million.
  The old program was a flagrant example of government waste. The new 
version makes even less sense, since it relinquishes government control 
over the program.
  In 1993, the General Services Administration reconfirmed a long-
standing government policy. Under that policy, the Federal Government 
does not sell federally owned weapons to the public.
  The Congress should not make an exception for the private, nonprofit 
Corporation for the Promotion of Rifle Practice and Firearms Safety. 
The U.S. Government shouldn't be an arms merchant.
  Given the plethora of weapons readily available through the private 
sector, guns for which the federal government no longer has a use 
should be destroyed, and the corporation should be abolished.
  Our bill would do just that. It would abolish the so-called private 
corporation, block the transfer of this $76 million endowment, and end 
the federally run Civilian Marksmanship Program once and for all. It 
would not prohibit gun clubs from operation, but it would not subsidize 
them with federally owned weapons, ammunition, property, and cash.
  This gift of millions of dollars' worth of weapons and ammunition is 
terrible public policy. In fact, it's outrageous. The Government must 
work, to stem the rising tide of gun violence in this country, not aid 
and abet it.
  I hope the Congress will approve this legislation. I ask unanimous 
consent that a copy of the Washington Post article on this program and 
a copy of the legislation be inserted in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1761

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Self Financing Civilian 
     Marksmanship Program Act of 1996''.

     SEC. 2. PRIVATE SHOOTING COMPETITIONS AND FIREARM SAFETY 
                   PROGRAMS.

       Nothing in this Act prohibits any private person from 
     establishing a privately financed program to support shooting 
     competitions or firearms safety programs.

     SEC. 3. REPEAL OF CHARTER LAW FOR THE CORPORATION FOR THE 
                   PROMOTION OF RIFLE PRACTICE AND SAFETY.

       (a) Repeal of Charter.--The Corporation for the Promotion 
     of Rifle Practice and Firearms Safety Act (title XVI of 
     Public Law 104-106; 110 Stat. 515; 36 U.S.C. 5501 et seq.), 
     except for section 1624 of such Act (110 Stat. 522), is 
     repealed.
       (b) Related Repeals.--Section 1624 of such Act (110 Stat. 
     522) is amended--
       (1) in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a), by 
     striking out ``and 4311'' and inserting in lieu thereof 
     ``4311, 4312, and 4313'';
       (b) by striking out subsection (b); and
       (3) in subsection (c), by striking out ``on the earlier 
     of--'' and all that follows and inserting in lieu thereof 
     ``on October 1, 1996.''.
                                                                    ____


                [From the Washington Post, May 7, 1996]

Up in Arms Over Rifle Giveaway--Gun-Control Advocates Call Army Weapons 
                           a Subsidy for NRA

       A provision of the defense budget that went into effect 
     earlier this year requires the Pentagon to give away 873,000 
     old rifles from World War II and the Korean War, spurring 
     protests from gun-control advocates who believe the 
     government shouldn't add to gun commerce.
       The little-noticed measure was promoted by the National 
     Rifle Association and the congressional delegation in Ohio, 
     home to an annual marksmanship competition that will be 
     financed by the sale of the venerable M-1 rifles and other 
     aged guns with a resale value of about $100 million.
       The heavy, nine-pound M-1s are unlikely to be used in 
     street crimes such as drug killings, the program's advocates 
     say, because the main buyers have been and likely will 
     continue to be gun collectors who must be trained in shooting 
     rifles and pass a stringent background investigation.
       But critics say the recent congressional action is in 
     effect a subsidy to the NRA. It requires the Army to transfer 
     control over the rifles for free to a new nonprofit 
     corporation. The corporation will sell them to benefit 
     marksmanship programs and the yearly target tournament in 
     Camp Perry, Ohio, which is managed by the NRA.
       The old Army-administered program also co-sponsored the 
     annual Ohio tournament with the NRA, and over the years the 
     NRA used its close relationship with the project to market 
     itself, critics of the group said.
       Congress's action marked the death of the Army-administered 
     program, called the Civilian Marksmanship Program, which 
     critics called one of the U.S. government's oddest pork-
     barrel projects. The Pentagon ran it for decades but has 
     sought to disentangle itself in recent years.
       The program harkens to 1903, just after the Spanish-
     American War. U.S. military officials were upset to learn 
     farm boys conscripted for that conflict were not the rustics 
     of romantic American novels who could nail a jack rabbit from 
     200 yards--in fact, they couldn't hit a barn. Congress 
     established the project, supported by U.S. military guns and 
     money, to promote sharpshooting in future wars.
       ``The gift of millions of dollars worth of weapons and 
     ammunition is terrible public policy,'' said Sen. Frank R. 
     Lautenberg (D-N.J.) in a column in USA Today. ``In fact, it's 
     outrageous. The government must work to stem the rising tide 
     of gun violence in this country, not aid and abet it.''
       ``This program historically has been a federal subsidy to 
     the NRA's marketing,'' said Josh Sugarmann, a gun-control 
     activist and author of a 1992 book critical of the NRA. 
     Congress's latest action, he added, is ``a new funding 
     mechanism'' that also helps the NRA.
       The great majority of the gun clubs that take part in the 
     marksmanship program are affiliated with the NRA, he said. 
     For decades, in fact, the guns' buyers had to prove to the 
     Army they were NRA members--until a federal judge stopped the 
     requirement in 1979.
       Promoters of the 93-year-old program say it's no more 
     sinister than the Boy Scouts, the Future Farmers of America 
     and other youth groups that have taken part in its 
     marksmanship training. The M-1s that are sold are not used in 
     crimes, they said, because the strict background probes of 
     the guns' potential buyers cull out criminals. They also 
     point out that nine of the 10 members of America's 1992 
     Olympic shooting team learned marksmanship in the program.
       ``Any link opponents try to draw between this program and 
     urban violence is comparable to linking Olympic boxing 
     competition with hoodlum street fighting,'' said Rep. Paul E. 
     Gillmor (R-Ohio), who sponsored the new measure and whose 
     district draws 7,000 visitors and $10 million in revenue 
     during the summertime rifle competition.
       Gillmor added that it would cost the military $500,000 to 
     destroy the guns, while the cost is nothing if it gives them 
     away.
       Chip Walker, a National Rifle Association spokesman, said 
     Lautenberg and other critics of the program ``don't want to 
     promote firearms safety and responsibility.'' He added that 
     it's ``ironic'' that gun-control advocates for years have 
     criticized the NRA for its harsh rhetoric, urging it to stick 
     to its traditional mission of teaching firearms safety--and 
     now raise questions about its efforts to pursue even that 
     goal.
       Almost all the guns the Army is to give away are M-1s, the 
     bolt-action rifle lugged by GIs onto the beaches at D-Day and 
     Guadalcanal. Replaced in 1958 by the M-14 as standard 
     infantry issue, and later by today's M-16, the M-1 is 
     prized by collectors and war buffs--especially the 
     pristine guns sold in their original boxes by the Army.
       Last year the Army charged $310 each for the M-1s stored at 
     its Anniston Army Depot in Alabama--an increase from its 
     recent price of $250. In any case, those are discounts, 
     because M-1s usually sell for $400 to $500. In recent years 
     the program sold a maximum of 6,000 guns a year.
       The measure recently signed into law by President Clinton 
     in essence privatizes the program and transfers ownership of 
     the 373,000 rifles to the new Corporation for the Promotion 
     of Rifle Practice and Firearms Safety, whose board is to be 
     named by the Army. It will then sell the weapons for whatever 
     price the market will bear, and at whatever rate it chooses. 
     (The guns will remain at the Anniston facility until they are 
     sold.)
       The law requires the Army to transfer to the new 
     corporation $5 million in cash the Army program has on hand, 
     $8 million in computers and other equipment, about 120 
     million rounds of ammunition and the 373,000 guns. It's 
     estimated that only about 60 percent of the guns--about 
     224,000--are usable, and they could fetch about $100 million.
       The Pentagon has sought to remove itself as administrator 
     of the program, under which it sold 6,000 guns a year and 
     donated $2.5 million annually to the Ohio competition, 
     military officials said. The main reason, they said, is that 
     they concluded that the program years ago stopped 
     contributing to ``military readiness.'' Moreover, Pentagon 
     officials were uncomfortable being involved in an issue as 
     controversial as firearms.
       Finally, last year, military officials were upset by the 
     taint the program suffered when it was learned that members 
     of a Michigan militia had formed a gun club that became 
     officially affiliated with the Army program. Using that 
     affiliation, the militia members

[[Page S5097]]

     had taken target practice at a Michigan military base until 
     they were stopped.
                                 ______