This report discusses the gaps in the current law regarding gun industry regulation and oversight. 4 To truly address all aspects of the gun violence epidemic in this country, policymakers must focus on the role the gun industry plays in enabling and exacerbating this violence. It is not enough to simply focus on the individuals who use guns to commit acts of violence-an approach that has contributed to overcriminalization and targeting of communities of color as part of a “tough on crime” approach to criminal justice. These supply-side actors make decisions that directly affect the kinds of guns and ammunition that are manufactured and sold, the safety features included on those guns, the commercial channels in which they are sold, and the safeguards in place at the point of sale to prevent gun trafficking and theft.Ī crucial component of a comprehensive plan for reducing gun violence in the United States is robust regulation and oversight of the gun industry. 3Įfforts to reduce gun violence that focus solely on the demand side of the problem ignore the role of the gun industry-manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, and retail gun dealers-in manufacturing and distributing the guns that are the instruments of this violence. 2 This violence persists, even as the number of Americans who choose to own guns has steadily declined.
The United States experiences rates of gun violence that no other high-income nation comes even close to matching. The result of this constellation of weak laws, lack of resources, and dearth of political will to support gun industry regulation is that the industry that produces and sells deadly weapons to civilian consumers has operated for decades with minimal oversight from the federal government and almost no accountability in the U.S. Congress has also eliminated some of the most useful tools for ensuring that gun industry actors operate their businesses in the best interests of consumers and are held accountable for harm caused by their products. Adding insult to injury, Congress has also imposed restrictions on how ATF can perform this regulatory work through restrictive policy riders on the agency’s budget. The federal agency charged with oversight of the industry-the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)-has been historically underfunded and politically vulnerable, making it nearly impossible for the agency to conduct consistent, effective regulatory oversight activities. The laws governing the operation of these businesses are porous and weak. They run about $50 so be sure to treat them gingerly to avoid bending or knocking them out of shape.The gun industry in the United States is effectively unregulated. The magazine lips have to be perfect for the gun to function. Much like Power’s U-2 pistol, these guns are the subject of many custom suppressor makers for experimentation. They still make wonderful shooters for plinking, light competition, and small game hunting. When looking for marks, if you find good and crisp “US” property marks it means it is a military surplus piece and you have an excellent deal on your hands. The value of these pistols today starts at $250 for shooting grade models in good condition to $700 for minty grades with a little extra green for the older models. The final models, marked “High Standard H-D Military” are the most common, with 150,000 produced from 1946-55. If marked “High Standard Model H-D USA” they are of the 44,000 made from 1943 to 1946 for the military (these should also have a parkerized finish). Those 6900 pistols marked simply “High Standard H-D” were made between1940 to 1942. High Standard H-D pistol markings can be used to easily determine the guns year of manufacture (and price point). They are an affordable gun and popular with collectors at all levels. In 1955, production of the H-D ceased and it was replaced by the very similar Olympic series, which in turn was itself replaced by the Victor.
CollectabilityĪfter WWII, High Standard kept the basic H-D in full production for a decade and it experienced good commercial sales. Others were reportedly made without any markings whatsoever to be ‘sterile’ and thus deniable.
The serial number is not listed in High Standard’s books and it has commonly been surmised that it was sold on spec to the CIA for operatives in the 1950s. In the trial, the Soviets produced a silenced Hi-Standard model USA-HD caliber.
Placed on public trial in Moscow, Powers admitted that his craft was in fact a CIA operated top-secret spy plane. His plane, the U-2 recon aircraft was shot down over the Ural mountain city of Sverdlovsk in the Soviet Union.
Gary Powers was somewhere that never existed in a plane that wasn’t on the official record.