The Americans who took up arms in Africa in the 1970s looked out on the world and saw the Soviet Union and its allies on the march, making great strides towards world domination. “We Can’t Afford to Lose Any Other Countries” And the ideas and impulses that animated these American mercenaries helped generate new forms of privatized warfare. Drawing upon arguments pressed by US conservative leaders, they enacted a shadow foreign policy that linked overseas conflicts to domestic struggles, leaving legacies that resonate today.Īlthough most US mercenaries had a marginal impact on the wars in Rhodesia and Angola, the circulation of violence - both real and imagined - between the United States and southern Africa helped radicalize domestic paramilitary groups in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But the story of US mercenaries in Africa shows that right-wing Americans were also part of a larger international anticommunist mobilization that spanned the Cold War era. The rise of the Right is usually told as a domestic tale. By picking up arms, these men hoped to continue their wartime crusade against America’s enemies abroad while reclaiming the economic and social power they believed they had lost to African Americans, women, and other groups at home. Convinced that the US government was too weak to counter the spread of communism in southern Africa, they took matters into their own hands. The NRA recently launched a campaign to strip this year’s McClure-Volkmer gun-decontrol law of a last-minute amendment that bars the private sale of new machine guns.In the late 1970s, about four hundred white American men, mostly Vietnam veterans, traveled to Rhodesia and Angola to fight as mercenaries. ![]() While the agency is willing to consider additional information, he said, “The line on which it’s rejected is to us a very clear line.” Spokesman Jack Killoran of BATF said the Striker-12 was rejected “on its merits” because it has no sporting purpose, not because of its military origins. ![]() between life and death while hunting dangerous game.” He said a hunter could use it on small or large game and would have enough firepower “to discourage the attack of a bear.” He also cited sportsmen’s arguments that the gun “could make the difference. (The Remington pump-action shotgun is also very popular among sportsmen in this country.) Halbrook said the Striker-12 is no more exclusively military than the Remington 870, a police weapon popular in several countries, including the United States and South Africa. Halbrook, who occasionally represents the NRA, said in his brief that BATF “has long recognized that military firearms may be adapted to sporting purposes.” He cited a number of assault rifles the agency has approved for importation, including the Uzi carbine and the Beretta AR-70. Documents detailing the request were obtained by Handgun Control Inc. restrictions on South African imports, Halbrook’s client is seeking to obtain the weapon from a factory in Portugal that would produce them. “Policemen who have used the Striker indicate it is common practice to load the first chamber with a tear-gas round, insert rubber buckshot into the even-numbered chambers and load the rest of the cylinder with lead shot,” the magazine said.Īlthough American dealers would have difficulty obtaining the Striker-12 because of U.S. South African police restrict ownership of the gun to private security forces and people with a demonstrated need for self-defense, Soldier of Fortune said. “You could switch from deer shot to birdshot.” “It has a revolving cylinder where you can change the kind of shot you want in an instant,” Halbrook said. He said the Striker-12 has a “very unique” design that makes it attractive to hunters and target-shooters. ![]() Halbrook said the Middletown, Pa., gun dealer he represents wants to sell a modified version of the military weapon in the United States. He is appealing a recent decision by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF), which ruled that the weapon “was specifically designed for military and law-enforcement uses” and “is not particularly suitable for sporting purposes.” Halbrook contends that private citizens should have the right to obtain the Striker-12 shotgun for sporting use. With backing from the National Rifle Association, attorney Stephen P. authorities to allow the import of semi-automatic shotguns used by South African security forces and advertised as “the ultimate law-enforcement weapon.” A Fairfax County, Va., lawyer is trying to persuade U.S.
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