We haven't heard much news on this front. As masfonos said, the issue seems to have somewhat faded away into the back of most people's minds after the initial outcry.
For those not familiar with the situation, here is a brief recap:
Several years ago, the South Korea government, wanting to raise money for its military, was in a position to sell a number of M1 rifles to the US. A LARGE number of M1s: over 87,000 M1 Garands and over 770,000 M1 Carbines. Circa 2009, the Obama administration approved this sale. However, when March 2010 rolled around, the administration had reversed course and banned the sale out of fear that the rifles "could fall into the wrong hands."
A State Department spokesman was quoted as saying "The transfer of such a large number of weapons [...] could potentially be exploited by individuals seeking firearms for illicit purposes. We are working closely with our Korean allies and the U.S. Army in exploring alternative options to dispose of these firearms." Because everyone knows that a 13 pound, 44 inch long rifle developed in 1932 is the go-to firearm of choice for Joe Criminal when sticking up a 7-11 or mugging someone in an alley.
Some of the gun control folks applauded the ban but there was a massive outcry from politicians on both sides of the aisles, hunters, target shooters, history buffs, collectors and other Second Amendment advocates. As these firearms were owned by the Korean government after being given by the U.S. government as part of a foreign aid package, they fall into a special category. Instead of being imported normally as a C&R (curio and relic) item, the import would require the permission of Hillary Clinton's State Department. In either case, the firearms would have had to been imported through normal commercial channels and be sold by federally licensed gun dealers who are required to administer the National Instant Check System (NICS) background check just as they would with any other C&R or newly manufactured firearm.
When various entities tried to get to the bottom of the reasoning for this change of heart, the buck kept getting passed. State Department referred questions to the BATFE who, in turn referred questions to the State Department. The White House referred questions to the Defense Department. The Defense Department passed the buck on to the United States' South Korean embassy, who passed it back to the State Department.
Gun rights advocates as well as politicians called the move a "back door gun ban," including in this letter signed by 16 sitting US Senators and sent to the State Department, Attorney General Eric Holder and BATFE Acting Director Kenneth Melson.The last we heard, nothing new has come up regarding this situation. Wyoming Congresswoman
Cynthia Lummis has introduced legislation several times (see
HR6240 and
HR615 to amend how C&R firearms are imported, but it generally sits on the docket until it "expires" and just goes away.
In short...No, these twelve wins have apparently not changed the situation in which the US State Department has blocked the import and sale of firearms that, normally, would be perfectly legal to import, buy, sell, own, shoot, collect, etc. in the United States.