Russian Sanctions, Says the White House; Anti-Gun Policy, Say the Gun Nuts
By SARAH
OKESON
A mix of Russian-made 7.62x39mm ammo from UCW and Barnaul (regularguyguns.com)
Gun-hungry
Americans buy more ammunition imported from Russia than from
any other country. When President Joe Biden blocked the importation of Russian
ammunition, the National Rifle Association trained its sights on the ban.
Russian
brands include Barnaul Ammunition, which provided ammo to the
Russian army during World War I, and Tula Cartridge Works, which
has ties to the mentor of Russian agent Maria Butina.
“NRA
is reviewing all political, legislative and legal options to fight this new
policy,” said NRA’s lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action.
American
buyers like Russian ammunition because it is generally cheaper than
American-made ammo. Russian ammunition is made with steel casings instead of
brass. Russian ammunition accounts for just over 22% of all imported ammunition
to the United States.
Gun
sales in our country have soared during the pandemic, and there are
ammunition shortages affecting deer hunters and others. In Russia, government
orders for ammunition dried up after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Biden’s ban is part of sanctions imposed in September to punish Russia for poisoning Putin critic Alexei Navalny. He survived after he was flown to Germany for treatment.
“Russian
ammunition manufacturers are a significant industry that benefits Vladimir
Putin’s regime, and they are a natural target for U.S. sanctions,” said
Sen. Ron
Wyden (D-Ore.), who has raised questions about Russian imports.
In
2020, companies imported 765 million rounds of ammunition from Russia. The
ban applies to new and permits to import ammunition.
“I
feel this is more a restriction on ammo availability than any sanctions on Russia,”
said Charlie Brown, the president of MKS Supply.
The
company, based in Dayton, Ohio, sells Russian-made Barnaul Ammunition. The family-run business
distributed a rifle used in the Columbine shootings in which 13
people were killed before the shooters slain themselves.
In
2018, Wyden, then the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, asked Treasury official Andrea
Gacki about U.S. relationships with Russian arms manufacturers,
including Tula Cartridge. Alexander Torshin, the mentor of Butina, has ties
to the cartridge plant.
Torshin,
who sat at a dinner table with Donald Trump Jr. at the 2016 National Rifle
Association convention, was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2018.
Butina
pleaded guilty in 2018 to one count of conspiracy to act
as a foreign agent in the United States without registering with the Justice
Department. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison. She was released and
deported in October 2019.
NRA
officials visited Moscow in 2015 and met with senior Kremlin
officials.
U.S.
sellers of TulAmmo ammunition include Century Arms, which
was founded in Montreal in 1961, and was implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal for allegedly arming
Nicaraguan rebels.
Another
TulAmmo customer is Global Military Products of Tampa, Fla. Marc Morales, the company president, was indicted in
2010 when he worked at another business on accusations that he was one of the
arms dealers who tried to bribe a foreign official.
His
trial ended in a hung jury, and charges against him and 21 others
were ultimately dismissed.
Sarah
Okeson is correspondent for DCReport, reporting on the environment,
gun control and the COVID pandemic. She is a former staff reporter for the
Springfield News-Leader, Joplin Global and Florida Today ; and her work has
also been featured by Salon, Miami Herald, Washington Times, Barons and more.