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That's a global definition, not just for the US DoD. In essence, 'small arms' is anything that's able to be used and carried by an individual, with a little lee

by _djo_ 3y ago

That's a global definition, not just for the US DoD. In essence, 'small arms' is anything that's able to be used and carried by an individual, with a little leeway. This is how the UN defines it: For the purposes of this instrument, “small arms and light weapons” will mean any manportable lethal weapon that expels or launches, is designed to expel or launch, or may be readily converted to expel or launch a shot, bullet or projectile by the action of an explosive, excluding antique small arms and light weapons or their replicas. Antique small arms and light weapons and their replicas will be defined in accordance with domestic law. In no case will antique small arms and light weapons include those manufactured after 1899: (a) “Small arms” are, broadly speaking, weapons designed for individual use. They include, inter alia, revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, sub-machine guns, assault rifles and light machine guns; (b) “Light weapons” are, broadly speaking, weapons designed for use by two or three persons serving as a crew, although some may be carried and used by a single person. They include, inter alia, heavy machine guns, hand-held under-barrel and mounted grenade launchers, portable anti-aircraft guns, portable anti-tank guns, recoilless rifles, portable launchers of anti-tank missile and rocket systems, portable launchers of anti-aircraft missile systems, and mortars of a calibre of less than 100 millimetres. [0] Others like Small Arms Survey choose 20mm as a cut off, but that's as arbitrary as 30mm.[1] [0] https://www.un.org/events/smallarms2006/pdf/international_instrument.pdf https://www.un.org/events/smallarms2006/pdf/international_in... [1] https://www.smallarmssurvey.org/sites/default/files/resources/SAS-HB-06-Weapons-ID-ch1.pdf https://www.smallarmssurvey.org/sites/default/files/resource...

Kon-Peki 3y ago
Fair enough, but if this Lake City company (of whom I have zero knowledge) is capable of manufacturing some "big stuff" that is small enough to be considered "small arms", and they've decided to dedicate their entire shop floor and manpower toward those products, then the article isn't wrong and neither are any of the comments that I had read when I posted. Just a lack of clarity that nobody in any official capacity is going to do anything about :)
- _djo_ 3y ago
  The facility in Lake City is the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, owned by the US government but operated by Winchester Ammunition. It has always been a small arms production site, mainly producing 5.56mm, 7.62mm, and .50. Under the terms of the management contract Winchester may sell the excess capability of the facility, outside what the military orders in any given year, on the civilian market. However the contract also states that military orders take priority and if there’s a big new order placed then those civilian sales contracts need to be paused or cancelled. This is done to preserve the large production lines outside of large US military orders. So the article is still wrong to include it, because it’s confusing two very different things: There’s no shortage of small arms ammunition, and what’s happening at Lake City is the system working as intended. There are also many facilities that can produce those calibres. It's easy. The issue with production is with large ammunition, like 155mm artillery shells, anti-tank missiles, etc that's much more difficult to produce than small arms ammunition and for which it takes much longer to spin up more capacity. Lake City is irrelevant in that context.
  - Animats 3y ago
    Right. However, some non-military ammo users are panicking. Look up the "God, Family, and Guns" YouTube channel. (Yes, really.)
    - _djo_ 3y ago
      Those people panic at the drop of a hat, usually on pure rumour, and gun shops intentionally ratchet up the hysteria. There are of course responsible gun owners in the US, but there’s also a ton of easily led, highly political, irrational, and paranoid ones. Lake City makes just 30% of the US’s supply of 5.56mm, so that calibre will still be available to buy but will just be more expensive for a bit. It’ll also only affect people who own AR-15s and similar rifles and who are a minority of gun owners.

by _djo_ 3y ago

Kon-Peki 3y ago

Fair enough, but if this Lake City company (of whom I have zero knowledge) is capable of manufacturing some "big stuff" that is small enough to be considered "small arms", and they've decided to dedicate their entire shop floor and manpower toward those products, then the article isn't wrong and neither are any of the comments that I had read when I posted. Just a lack of clarity that nobody in any official capacity is going to do anything about :)

_djo_ 3y ago
The facility in Lake City is the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, owned by the US government but operated by Winchester Ammunition. It has always been a small arms production site, mainly producing 5.56mm, 7.62mm, and .50. Under the terms of the management contract Winchester may sell the excess capability of the facility, outside what the military orders in any given year, on the civilian market. However the contract also states that military orders take priority and if there’s a big new order placed then those civilian sales contracts need to be paused or cancelled. This is done to preserve the large production lines outside of large US military orders. So the article is still wrong to include it, because it’s confusing two very different things: There’s no shortage of small arms ammunition, and what’s happening at Lake City is the system working as intended. There are also many facilities that can produce those calibres. It's easy. The issue with production is with large ammunition, like 155mm artillery shells, anti-tank missiles, etc that's much more difficult to produce than small arms ammunition and for which it takes much longer to spin up more capacity. Lake City is irrelevant in that context.
- Animats 3y ago
  Right. However, some non-military ammo users are panicking. Look up the "God, Family, and Guns" YouTube channel. (Yes, really.)
  - _djo_ 3y ago
    Those people panic at the drop of a hat, usually on pure rumour, and gun shops intentionally ratchet up the hysteria. There are of course responsible gun owners in the US, but there’s also a ton of easily led, highly political, irrational, and paranoid ones. Lake City makes just 30% of the US’s supply of 5.56mm, so that calibre will still be available to buy but will just be more expensive for a bit. It’ll also only affect people who own AR-15s and similar rifles and who are a minority of gun owners.