In 1993, the Chinese supplied 30 percent of all guns shipped to the United States and 54 percent of the rifles. Since a 1987 decision by the State Department allowed Chinese arms imports, Beijing's army has emerged as one of the largest foreign suppliers of small arms on the American market, Killorin said. Without prior notification, it would be like "looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack." ATF officials declined to identify the importers. The packaging carrying these weapons had the proper ATF permit identification and Customs inspectors had not been alerted to look for problems, Duchesne said. "We can't, nor do we pretend to, inspect every commercial shipment that enters the country, whether it is shoes, socks or in this case guns," said Customs spokesman Steven Duchesne. Customs attributed the oversight errors to the large volume of material entering the United States. Importers notified ATF of the discovery of illegal guns in early February and bureau officials contacted Customs, federal officials said yesterday. "Our intent is to rechannel the weapon to the importer." anyone who has purchased one of these rifles in the past few months to contact the supplier or original importer of the weapon," Magaw said. In 1990, 720,000 firearms were shipped to the United States from abroad. In 1992, 2.8 million firearms, including 1.4 million rifles and 981,588 handguns, were imported, ATF officials said.
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The announcement highlights the volume of guns entering the United States each year. "There is no limit on where these guns could have gone.".īetween January 19, federal authorities approved permits for 2 million firearms from China, the majority of them were MAK-90 or other military-style rifles, bureau officials said. "We don't have an accounting for how many moved through before we became aware of the problem," Killorin said, but the bureau is now trying to find out. Owners of such rifles who intentionally keep them in violation of federal law could face a fine of up to $250,000 and up to 10 years in prison. "We will not be approving new import permits until this matter is settled," Magaw said. All illegal rifles are subject to recall. The bureau also has ordered importers to cease distribution. until the firearms are examined by ATF," ATF Director John W. The rifles were produced by China North Industries, also known as Norinco, a Chinese military firm.ĪTF officials are working with the Customs Service "to deny entry of in-transit shipments.
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Others have threaded muzzles that can hold silencers, Killorin said. Some are capable of receiving machine gun parts. The bureau has discovered 3,000 to 4,000. Tens of thousands of MAK-90s, a derivative of the AK-47 military assault rifle, "have been imported in the last several months, including some that have been improperly configured," said ATF spokesman John C. An unknown number of illegal rifles, including some classified as machine guns and others equipped to mount grenade launchers, have recently been imported from China in violation of federal gun laws, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms announced yesterday.