I don't even know where to begin. I suspect I could buy these by the shipping container load and import them. But I have no idea what permits I need.
I also need to find funding.
Been doing research though. I think I could set myself up as an arms importer with the proper federal fire arms license. Still checking the legality of giving guns to people. I might have to sell them at a nominal fee (like $1) and ask for the $25 to run the federal background check
IIRC it's not possible (or at least very difficult) to obtain an FFL as a nonprofit, as I think the wording of the relevant laws requires that the holder be "in the business" of selling firearms. This is interpreted as selling firearms for profit. Assuming you got around that, I also think you would probably have to incorporate as a 501(c)(4) rather than a 501(c)(3) because of the political criteria behind your firearms distribution; this is how the SRA is incorporated. 501(c)(4) orgs don't get the charitable deduction, meaning you wouldn't be able to write any money you put towards the org off your taxes (if you care about that).
Also, as much as I love the SKS (I own a Chinese one from the 50s myself), it is no longer a very cheap gun to obtain over here, and importation will require significant capital. Others have mentioned ARs, and I think those are the way to go if you're looking to buy some cheap rifles to train others with. People will think I'm memeing but Hipoints are better than nothing and very cheap.
I'm trying to think about how to get clever with this, though, and I might have a way where you can get kind of close to what you want to do. Incorporate as a 501(c)(3) organization with the purpose to educate individuals on how to hunt and defend themselves. Set up courses and materials that provide instruction on how to use an AR, which has use as a hunting platform. Don't charge for the course or the materials. Make admission open to anyone who is interested in hunting and self-defense (but be careful where you advertise so that you really only draw in folks who you want). Buy a couple rifles for yourself to loan to others to use in the classes. Then, if people pass whatever curriculum you impose as a part of your self-defense and hunting training, make them eligible to receive grants from the nonprofit so that they can purchase guns of their own. This would effectively have the same result as if you'd just bought the guns yourself, but with none of the mess of the FFL, and with tax deductibility to boot. However, you'd need to be very careful on who you provided grants to - if you're just providing them to friends and family, then the IRS is going to see the nonprofit as a vehicle for buying cool guns with pre-tax dollars.
If you're serious about this, you should definitely talk to a lawyer before trying to do anything. The IRS and ATF don't fuck around. I'd feel terrible if you ended up in trouble on the basis of my halfcooked advice. Just wanted to float the idea out there .
AKMs are easier to manufacture and you'd only need to transfer to gun stores. If you had a CNC then ARs are pretty damn easy to make.
Manufacturing inexpensive but good firearms for the working class is one of my dreams.
You should be doing the latter (milling ARs). Anything else is LARPing. Go look at videos of chuds protesting with guns. How many SKS or AKs do you see? If the shit were to hit the fan, those chuds you are looking at are your source for spare parts and ammo assuming any leftist-owned mills are destroyed or confiscated. Those chuds aren't carrying SKS parts or 7.62 ammo. If this were pretty much anywhere else in the world, it would be a different story.
Our military uses 5.56. Our police use 5.56. Any NATO country that would consider sending troops to aid the US government will more than likely be using 5.56. Telling a first time buyer or someone who can only afford to buy one rifle to buy a rifle chambered in 7.62 is absolutely the definition of denying material reality. Yes, there are lots of gun owners, including myself, who have a rifle chambered in 7.62. That is not my first or primary rifle, though, nor would I recommend that for anyone in the US.
You can find 7.62 because it's not as used and we aren't in a civil war scenario. In an actual wartime scenario, production is going to be shifted heavily into 5.56, especially if the left is primary armed with 7.62. 7.62 isn't integral enough to the US military that can't can't switch to using another round of it meant depriving the left of ammo.
Where is “the left” getting armaments to begin with?
Did you read OPs post?
A single night could deplete most civilian ammo stockpiles regardless of the caliber. And after that again, where there is ammo to “pick up”, there would be rifles.
Dead solider/militamen, raids of government armories/stockpiles, and stealing shipments. Which, again, is why it's important to be using the common cartridge used by the military and law enforcement.
What do they keep in armories? Who is guarding those shipments?
How exactly do you plan on capturing an armory when you have no ammo because the government shutdown 7.62x39 production and importation?
The only person being intentionally obtuse here is you. What's the point of making a post about "arming the left" in your mind? What exactly is the motive behind that?
Anyway, I don’t think this is a good thing to be focused on and certainly not posting about, even hypothetically. Firearm training needs to be focused on self defense, and community defense.
Oh, OK, in that case, I recommend everyone go out and buy 10/22s to defend their community.
And I am saying you are wrong, because someone who has one rifle and has put 1k rds downrange with another 1k in a can is more valuable than someone who buys an AR right now and can only find/ afford a few hundred rounds. Even in your more extreme scenarios, a small personal stockpile could potentially mean making it through the first few months of conflict before those stockpiles are secured. It’s a matter of having something or not for most people right now.
The context of this post isn't about individual choices. It's about arming a group en masse. Individually, sure, buy whatever you can afford. Collectively, arming leftist en masse with a rifle chambered in a caliber that the federal government could easily shut down production of with no pain to itself is an incredibly stupid strategy. No you collectively need new guns and ammo, I stead of just ammo.
That's essentially the context of this post, though: arming unarmed leftists with SKS's. I don't think that owning an SKS or AKM is a LARP, I think wanting to arm leftists en masse with them is a LARP.
OK, sorry, my bad, I missed that part. I just have a minor panic attack everytime I see a "let's arm the left with SKS's and Moisin Nagants" posts.
You'd need an FFL to import firearms legally, which involves interacting with the only efficient US government agency, the ATF.
Sounds awesome, but also like an easy way to get rico statute charges.
3D printing nerds btfo by easily obtainable metal piping and wood.
This post brought to you by the Matchlock Musket Gang.
I have 3d printers and there are way better things to use them for. Mainly involving drones and replacing and repairing any plastic tools. Pipes and nails with some rubber bands are way better for low cost weapons.
Don't get me wrong, 3D printing is a cool as fuck technology. I'm just poking fun at the people who try to force their ED printer shaped pegs into holes that clearly don't fit.
A few modifications, a spring, and a child's toy and I reckon you could make a decently reliable Wheelock (with an electric wheel, no less).
I think it's illegal to purchase specifically for resale if you're not a licensed gun dealer, it would probably actually be easier to gift them.
