XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.california   
   From: drooler@gmail.com   
      
   MIAMI -- Adrian Kellgren's family-owned gun company in Florida was left   
   holding a $200,000 shipment of semi-automatic rifles after a longtime   
   customer in Ukraine suddenly went silent during Vladimir Putin's invasion   
   of the country.   
      
   Fearing the worst, Kellgren and his company KelTec decided to put those   
   stranded 400 guns to use, sending them to Ukraine's nascent resistance   
   movement to help civilians fight back against a Russian military that has   
   been repeatedly shelling their apartment buildings, schools, hospitals and   
   hiding places.   
      
   "The American people want to do something," said Kellgren, a former U.S.   
   Navy pilot. "We enjoy our freedoms, we cherish those things. And when we   
   see a group of people out there getting hammered like this, it's   
   heartbreaking."   
      
   Cocoa-based KelTec's donation is a high-profile example of Americans   
   collecting guns, ammunition, body armor, helmets and other tactical gear   
   in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's promise to arm   
   his citizens. But many similar grassroots efforts have been snarled by   
   inexperience with the complex web of regulations governing the   
   international shipment of such equipment.   
      
   Kellgren, who has dealt with such red tape for years, managed to connect   
   through a Ukrainian neighbor with a diplomat in the Ukrainian Embassy who   
   helped him secure a federal arms export license in just four days. That   
   process can often take months.   
      
   This week, as Congress debated whether to send more advanced weapons and   
   defense systems to Ukraine, workers at KelTec's warehouse forklifted four   
   plastic-wrapped pallets containing their 9 mm foldable rifles for delivery   
   to an undisclosed NATO-run facility. From there, the shipment's new   
   recipient, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, will be responsible for   
   smuggling the weapons into the war zone.   
      
   "That's when the real derring-do and heroism begins," Kellgren said.   
      
   From California to New York, elected officials, sheriff's departments and   
   nonprofits say they have also collected thousands of sets of body armor   
   and millions of rounds of ammunition for Ukraine.   
      
   Colorado Gov. Jared Polis kicked off a campaign last week to ask police   
   and sheriff's departments to donate surplus ballistic helmets and other   
   equipment. "We know that it can urgently be used to help stop Putin and   
   save Ukraine," he said.   
      
   But hazards abound: One New York City nonprofit leading an effort to   
   collect tactical gear had 400 bulletproof vests stolen before they could   
   be dispatched.   
      
   https://abc7.com/ukraine-guns-american-gunmakers/11667740/   
      
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