The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 8, February 25, 2007, Article 8

STOLEN VALOR ACT BECOMES LAW

Writing in the February 22, 2007 issue of the MPC Gram News Letter,
Joe Boling discusses the U.S. Stolen Valor Act and its impact on
medal collectors.  With permission, we're reprinting his article here:

"The Stolen Valor Act was signed into law in December. Its intent was
to prevent un-entitled persons from wearing or claiming eligibility
for military decorations. You will recall that two or three years ago
the restrictions on trading the Medal of Honor were tightened. The
Stolen Valor Act extends many of those restrictions to the three
crosses (DSC, Navy Cross, AF Cross), the Silver Star, and the Purple
Heart. But it goes much farther, prohibiting even legitimate holders
of these medals from mailing, trading, or buying them. (For instance,
a soldier awarded a Purple Heart in Afghanistan could not mail it home
to his wife.) No explicit provision was included to allow normal
collecting and dealing activities.

"The Orders and Medals Society of America (OMSA) has prepared an
extensive analysis of the new law. In essence, all trade in the above
named medals, plus ALL medals of the Navy (Marines) and Air Force,
are suspended until implementing regulations are written by an
appropriate federal agency (probably the Office of Military History).
This has caused the indefinite suspension of a pending auction of
militaria (by Floyd, Johnson, and Paine).

"See the following url for the OMSA analysis: OMSA analysis

"There could hardly be a finer example of the Law of Unintended
Consequences. If you are friendly with a federal legislator, let
him/her know that this badly written law must be repaired."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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