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Posts Tagged ‘ASA’

ASA Seeks Support for Iowa Suppressor Legislation

Tuesday, April 7th, 2015

We received this update on suppressor legislation in Iowa from the American Suppressor Association.

IOWA: SUPPRESSOR LEGISLATION NEEDS SUPPORT

Iowa is well on its way to becoming the 40th state to legalize suppressor ownership, despite some hiccups in the legislative process. Since we last updated you, the bill numbers have changed several times as Iowa legislators fight over specifics, but the ASA is happy to inform you that last Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee voted 19-2 to approve Senate File 427. This bill originated in the Senate, where it began as a stand-alone bill to legalize suppressor ownership. It passed the Senate 46-4, before moving to the House, where it was amended to include several additional pro-Second Amendment provisions.

SF 427 is now an omnibus bill that includes a “Shall Sign” provision, which would require Chief Law Enforcement Officers (CLEOs) in Iowa to sign suppressor applications within 30 days of receipt, unless the applicant is found to be a prohibited person. If passed, SF 427 would make Iowa the 40th state to allow private ownership of suppressors. Similar legislation has been introduced in Illinois, Minnesota, and Vermont this session.

The ASA is very excited about the prospects of this bill becoming law, but there is still work to do before we can declare victory. We need your help to push this effort past the finish line! Using this link, please identify, call, and email your legislators and politely urge them to support SF 427.

Find your legislator here: www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators

With your help, we will get this legislation to Governor Branstad’s desk and legalize suppressor ownership for 3 million Iowans.

americansuppressorassociation.com

SOF SIGINTERs Before It Was Cool!

Monday, September 15th, 2014

SEPTEMBER 1966 – THE FIGHTING 403RD ARRIVES IN SOUTH VIETNAM

403rd ASA Det

The 403rd Special Operations Detachment (Abn) was the Army Security Agency’s Direct Support Unit for the 5th Special Forces Group. The unit arrived straight from Special Forces training at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, in September 1966 with fifty-one men as part of an effort to restructure the intelligence capabilities of the 5th SFG.

Although subordinate to the 509th Radio Research Group (ASA) in Saigon, the 403rd was headquartered with the 5th Special Forces Group in Nha Trang. At full strength, their personnel were ultimately deployed to some eighty-five remote and dangerous locations in support of 3,500 Special Forces troops across the length and breadth of South Vietnam.

The ASA Green Berets were trained in Morse and voice intercept, serving as highly-trained communications intelligence operators in the field, and also performed their required duties as full-fledged members of Special Forces based on operational needs. They were a rare hybrid, bred by the necessities of a brutal war, and one of ASA’s best-kept secrets.

Those men are the forebears to today’s SOT-As.

Based on Chapter 19, “Unlikely Warriors: The Army Security Agency’s Secret War in Vietnam 1961 to 1973” by Lonnie M. Long and Gary B. Blackburn, iUniverse, 2013

To learn more follow: www.facebook.com/UnlikelyWarriors

Copyright © 2013 Lonnie M. Long and Gary B. Blackburn

Photograph: The 403rd SOD courier run – Plei Ku to Kontum – 1968 (Photo: INSCOM)