Hit Counters

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Combat Gear Restrictions?


Recently, the GAO (Government Accountability Office) has been doing several set up missions to expose vendors willing to sell equipment that may aid terrorists. Granted, nothing is ILLEGAL about these vendors selling the equipment to people and companies over seas. The GAO is trying to show that it should be much more difficult to sell to overseas buyers while that equipment can be used right back against us.
Example:
Great companies such as U.S. Calvary, Ranger Joe's, and EBay, to name a few, all offer amazing military products. In fact, before deployments, I always bought stuff from these companies. They offer far superior gear than the U.S. Army issued.
The issue is, the GAO set up fake companies over seas, to purchase military and civilian items commonly used to make everything from IED's (improvised explosive devices) to Nuclear Weapons components. During the sting operation, the GAO was able to purchase even STOLEN military equipment, delivered with no questions asked.

Equipment purchased ranged from:

-Weapons Magazines and Clips
-RACK systems, tactical vests, ammo pouches, all M.O.L.L.E gear available for ability to easily carrier several hundred rounds, explosives, tactical aides, and bullet proof plate slots.
-Helmets, Bullet Proof Vests, Chemical Warfare Operations gear.
-Night Vision Goggles, Night Vision Aides, Weapon Mounted Night Vision,.
-An F16 Fighting Eagle (Air Force Combat Jet) Computer Control System.
-Triggered Spark Gaps, Accelerometers, Gyro Chips (All can be used in multiple explosives, including Nuclear Weaponry.)

So essentially, we are selling the enemy combat equipment for cheap. Equipment at deep discounted prices. This equipment allows them to more effectively engage U.S. forces on the ground.

The Government is looking into changing law so all sales of these kind of equipment would be sold to the United States Residents only. The new law would also effectivly ban shipping these items to foreign countries as well. (APO and AE, and all OCONUS military addresses will still be allow shipping to these places.) That sounds reasonably fair to me. No need to assist the enemy. If someone loses out on some money, but soldiers survive, TOO FUCKING BAD.

What do you think? Some people think restricting sales of these items to foreigners is illegal and unconstitutional. I personally feel that the ones complaining are the ones profiting from the sales to begin with. After all, don't these foreign countries have suppliers of weaponry and equipment in their local areas? I figure there is a trade like these, virtually EVERYWHERE. Why arm the enemy with superior equipment than our own troops? We should make it much more difficult for them to get these items.

8 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Soooooooo....Hammertime, eh? Interesting.... Do you carry a sledgehammer or something? HA HA! Anyways, It's not right for them to legally make money like that. Thanks for the support, Hammer!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well I guess it is true that 'a state of war serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny'. But in cases like this, it obviously points to potential risks to soldiers' lives. Especially with the stolen stuff, since that's slightly illegal anyway, there seems to be no moral problem with restricting trade to certain places.

    A bigger question would be, is it possible to do so, or worth the inevitable time, money and effort required? Perhaps it might be worse if the authorities try to clamp down on trade and it goes underground, never to be seen on eBay again.

    BTW wouldn't 'Hammertime' have a slightly different definition in the US? At least, 'hammer' does, lol

    ReplyDelete
  4. lol i dunno... unless he was talking MC HAMMER, a 80's rapper? LOL i dunno

    ReplyDelete
  5. Should let the free market handle this. If a company sells to a suspected terrorist group, we, the consumers can boycott them. This will force them to stop that, or go out of business.

    The government does not need to get involve in this,for as you explained, it hurts everybody.

    ReplyDelete
  6. We should never sell our military products to anyone outside of the USA.
    'Nuff Said.

    ReplyDelete
  7. How would a boycott work though, if business from terrorist groups is plentiful enough to sustain it? I really do not know if it is, or what the percentage of terrorists buying this equipment is, but it's a new thought. Thanks Con. Scalawag

    ReplyDelete
  8. DID someone make fun of HAMMERTIME? Wait til I HAMMERTIME your house!

    HAMMERTIME!

    ReplyDelete