AAWA, American Automatic Weapons Association

[Big Al]

I found this intriguing PDF document in the Small Arms Review Archive. Does anyone have any more information about this organization? How big it got, how many years active, what happened to it, etcetera, etcetera?

 

Progress Report of AAWA, American Automatic Weapons Association. Courtesy Philip H. Dater, MD. 1957.pdf

Edited February 7, 2018 by Big Al

[Black River Militaria CII]

In the mid 1950s. During the development of new small arms for rhe military some enterprising individuals, gun collectors, gun retailers, some government personnel and politicians thought it would be a good idea to have a nationwide club organization to familiarize cirizens with military small arms, MGs of all sorts, issue semi and selectfire rifles and even new developments. M14s, the AR line and other weapons were being tested for adoption by the armed services. The NRA already had the various military rifle competitions, but no one was training civilians in the use of MGs. The DEWAT retail busniess was well on its way and many MGs were imported for purchase by collectors and many were brought back by service personnel. NFA ‘34 was in effect so live MGs were required to be registered. The idea of the AAWA was to have many small clubs around the country that would have access to many different types of MGs and other small arms for trainiing and shooting on an organized and controlled basis and the organization would be under the administration of the founders and also under the umbrella of the NRA. Some high powered people were asked to be a part of the administration such as Col. Chinn, George Jarrett, a number of the owners of then current retail gun outlets, Hy Hunter with Ye Old Hunter, Val Forgett, Sam Cummings, MARS Equipment, etc. Gerald Ford was behind it. However, before the clubs even got rolling, there was a significant backlash from politicians, people in the NRA, the Treasury which controlled MGs, the public, and others. Despite that the MGs used would be registered and the clubs would be well organized and monitored, too many of the original organizers with jobs and positions to protect pulled out and the AAWA faded into obscurity.

With the rapid growth of private MG collecting and shooting since the late 1950s the idea of the AAWA has flourished with many, many clubs and organizations that are filled by members who privately own MGs. This is a far superior result. The founders of the AAWA would be extremely proud to see how advanced is the MG collecting hobby and industry.

The above is a bried sketh of the AAWA. FWIW

[jim c 351]

Bob,

Very interesting, thanks for posting.

Jim C

[ron_brock]

Yes thank you Bob and Big Al for sharing. Very interesting glimps at early MG collecting

 

Ron

[Big Al]

Thank you, Bob! That was very informative.