A piece of history
So, you run a library. In that library, you find a WW1 German machine gun that was captured by Alvin York. You want to sell it to fund your library. Tough shit, it’s illegal:
According to the research, Lewis had plucked the weapon from a pile given up by surrendering Germans and shipped it home. Briefly prized as a souvenir of the war, it was paraded through the town on Armistice Day in 1919 by Boy Scouts who towed it in a red wagon. But over the years it faded from public view.
Its rediscovery stoked dreams of a big windfall for the library, where officials had been pondering ways to finance an expansion of the cramped facility and an upgrade of an antiquated cataloging system. Library officials said they contacted several auctioneers in New England who estimated the weapon’s value at $100,000 and perhaps several times more than that.
But the dreams didn’t last long. Library officials soon learned that the gun is illegal and that they can do very little with it.
Federal gun laws prohibit possession or sale of automatic guns unless they are registered with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. In the library attic for years, the German machine gun was never registered. The library isn’t allowed to register the gun now because federal law prohibits new registrations on automatic weapons, except in rare circumstances.
Since it is illegal for the library even to have the gun, Nahant police took it and stored it under lock and key in an evidence locker, forestalling seizure by the ATF.
“We cannot hold onto this weapon,” deStefano said. “If we kept it on the premises, they were going to come and get it, and they were going to destroy it. This is a piece of history. We’re kind of caught between a rock and a hard place.”
The town has appealed to the ATF for permission to sell the gun, but so far, bureau officials have rejected the pleas.
Possession of an unregistered NFA weapon can land you 15 years in club fed and a big fine. But:
A spokesman for the ATF said yesterday that it would be possible for the Nahant police to register the gun and take responsibility for it, which would prevent it from being destroyed. They could also possibly transfer it to another public agency, but it’s unlikely that it can be sold on the market , according to Jim McNally, a spokesman in Boston for the ATF.
He said the agency — at the request of US Representative John F. Tierney, a Salem Democrat — is researching options that Nahant might be allowed under the law, such as transferring the gun to a private museum.
Sorry. The weapon cannot be transferred. It is already contraband now. Such a transfer (and possession) is illegal. Time to destroy a piece of history due to our gun laws.
April 24th, 2007 at 10:58 am
[…] It’s destroying our history. If it weren’t for the FOPA provision that made registering new machine guns illegal, this piece of our history wouldn’t be at risk. […]
April 24th, 2007 at 11:18 am
If they wished to do so, the BATFE could sieze the weapon as contraband, sell it for one dollar to the local police on a form 10, and the Bush administration, could, if it wanted to, simply ignore the may 1986 ban, since congress doesn’t have any real authority to order such, and let the police sell said firearm normally.
But they won’t.
April 24th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Private bill?
April 24th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
If only to save it from distruction, could they not donate it to a military museum?
April 24th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
You know, even I agree with you on this one. And if we agree on a stupid gun law, it must really be stupid.
What if the Smithsonian got involved?
April 24th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Barry, I don’t know of a smithsonian exemption in the law.
April 24th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Wouldn’t every automatic weapon in every museum now be illegal if they’re not registered?
All the ATF has to do is say, Ok, we’ll register it. And stop dragging their feet and rejecting the requests.
Sounds like all it would take is a call from their Senator to get them to register the dang thing.
April 24th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
But they are registered. If not, they’re illegal.
Well, they could but that would be illegal.
Still be illegal. The law is quite clear. No post 1986 MGs are transferable. Period. Unregistered MGs are contraband. Period. That said, there is the Veteran’s Heritage Firearms Act in committee now for just such a situation. But, it’s been in committee for years.
April 24th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
And, of course, as Kristopher pointed out above, there is a way around it. But it still illustrates the stupidity of the law.
April 24th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
That’s what I mean, it said the law could be circumvented “in rare circumstances”. What are those “rare circumstances” and are they simply at the mercy of who’s in charge? And that’s what I meant by a friendly word from a Senator changing their mind…
April 24th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Ayup. they could turn it over to the ATF, who usually destroys such things. And maybe the ‘who’s in charge’ will choose not to.
A senator is not the executive branch.
April 24th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
I know, but Senators can still wield political pressure when applied in the right place.
April 24th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
sure, but MA Sens kerry and kennedy aren’t the most, err, sympathetic to guns. And who wants to be the senator that says ‘disregard the law/policy, please’.
April 24th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
But I thought that Senator Kerry was a staunch pro 2A advocate a couple of years ago.
Perhaps these folks need to approach Senator Craig instead.
April 24th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
That is idiotic. It was lawfully brought home as a trophy of war, and it was completely legal when it was brought in to the country. The fact that it was stored away and forgotten doesn’t change the fact it was legally acquired prior to all of the newer gun control laws.
The ATF and the politicians responsible for this state of affairs all deserve a swift kick in the ass.
April 24th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
I’m sure the National Infantry Museum at Ft Benning would love to have it, but I’m not sure if their funding comes from the Federal budget or from donations.
Actually, even if it is federal money, they should have funding for ‘artifact acquisition’ or some such thing. But I’m sure the U.S. Army can take possession of it, and do the right thing and give some money to the library.
April 25th, 2007 at 10:20 am
Does anyone know what it actually is? Jack.
April 25th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Before 1968, if someone discovered an MG in the attic, they could just go down to the post office, buy a $200 stamp and a form, and register it.
The GCA of 1968 screwed with all of that.
As recently as 1976, they had an MG amnesty to get those closet MGs registered.
Now that the hughs amendment has passed, banning new registries after May 1986, I don’t see the BATFE doing another amnesty unless forced to do so.
April 25th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
This is basically the last gasp for civilian MG ownership … if the hughs amendment isn’t removed, and responsibility for new registration taken away from the BATFE, as a tax matter, and not as gun control, we will see MG ownership relegated to rich people and movie studios.