Johnson and GCA 1968 cost me a cherry PPK and Browning Hi-Power. Couldn’t legally bring them back from Germany where I was stationed in late 60’s. I’ll forever loathe the son of a bitch.
Hey, tell me about it. Dad was assigned to Naples, summer ‘68. The NATO Rod & Gun Club sold PPK’s for $53.00 in .380, $55.90 in .22. I bought a .22 and brought it back with nothing but the receipt. Later sold it like an idiot, but then came the `factoring criteria’ which banned the PPK. I did bring back a Mauser HSc which was legal.
I hate Lyndon Johnson to this day. Dad hated him worse because he was assigned to the Pentagon. If his boss & staff were summoned to the WH, they had to wear civilian clothes (it didn’t start with Clinton). Dad was an O-6 and you know what that means in the Puzzle Palace. One of his colleagues had the additional duty to take Windex & clean the spit off LBJ’s photo on the chain of command board. Every morning.
Dad retired as a commander, thank goodness.
Fast forward: I own a PPK in .32 cal, bought for $105.00 in 1973. I later bought a PPK/S in .380 (”the gun the bureaucrats built”), G&A 1969). It actually has a better feel than the PPK but I don’t like how it came into existence. Featured in a Bond film.
BTW, I thought the Browning HP was legal to bring back.