Posted on 12/11/2012 8:38:58 AM PST by GOPsterinMA
Just like a scene out of "Antiques Roadshow," a woman in Hartford, Conn., turned in an old rifle to her local police station's gun buy-back, only to discover the gun was worth anywhere from $20,000 to $25,000. The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, inherited the gun from her father who had brought it home with him from Europe as a memento from World War II.
The two officers conducting the gun buy-back, who are resident gun experts for the Hartford Police Department, informed the owner she was in possession of a Nazi Assault Rifle, the first of its kind, that dates back to 1944.
The gun is called a Sturmgewehr 44, literally meaning "storm rifle," and is the first "modern assault rifle ever made, eventually replaced by the AK 47 in 1947 by Russia, who copied the German design of the Sturmgewehr 44," Officer Lewis Crabtree, one of the two officers who discovered the gun, told ABC News.
"It's like finding the Babe Ruth of baseball cards," said Officer John Cavanna. "The rarity, it was made for such a very short period."
(Excerpt) Read more at gma.yahoo.com ...
I'm surprised the woman didn't get cuffed for not having the proper permits.
Sweet!
She needs to send that gun Red Jacket and get it fixed up.
She needs to send that gun Red Jacket and get it fixed up.
Banglist (((ping)))!
I’ve held a couple of these in my day. Sturdy platform and functionally similar to an AK, it doesn’t surprise me that any little old lady would think it “dangerous” if they’ve been conditioned to see “assault rifles” as such.
If it was a full-auto, depending on its pedigree and condition, it would fetch more than $25,000 without a problem.
Uh, shouldn’t she have been arrested and charged with violation of the NFA? Maybe the batfe needs to be called in. Do the cops get an exemption from the NFA automatically just because they are cops? Must fall under a cover since they were doing it on behalf of the department. Inoperable at the time it was turned in but I’ll bet it wouldn’t take much for a good armorer to get her up and running. Like Red Jacket.
On the other hand. Nice piece for the avid collector.
Share the lead.
Uh-oh.
The cops in the video seem to be on the up-and-up. Also, if the owner took it back, you can bet BATF would be waiting to bust her. The PD will probably hand it off directly to a museum for her. In this case, they actually seem to be acting in this woman’s best interest.
I was wondering since its a machine gun in no working condition if she would now need a tax stamp to own it.
That's part of the training: "How to pretend you aren't an A-hole in front of cameras." They are very good at adopting a "WTF" expression when you try to recover something. "Gun? What gun? Nobody here signed that reciept."
But I do believe you're correct that if she tried to take it home, the BATFE would have busted her for sure.
I know an ATF agent. He was actually sickened the day he was required by law to confiscate a similar item form a citizen. His choice was to destroy it or ensconce in in the ATF private museum. Selling to a dealer or giving it to the National Firearms museum was not an option.
WAY cooler than that Jap Arisaka on yesterday’s thread.
It’s amazing what one comes across. In 1982 I purchased an old used Japanese made pellet gun for $3. I never considered it to be of any value at at all until I ran across an identical one on ebay several weeks ago. I also didn’t know that it was one of the few CO2 pellet rifles made with an adjustment for chamber pressure, a feature I didn’t even know it had until I checked further. I now find that it’s worth about $700.
If the rifle wasn’t registered during one of the amnesty periods the ATF will confiscate it from a citizen. I don’t know the legality of the cops putting it in their “collection.”
GOOD FREAKIN LORD.
Yeah, antigun buffoon, if you hit the wrong 'level' (aka, the trigger), you can discharge a 'fatal' round.
Gaw damned antigun trash f***holes.
At least, these cops were honest and let the woman keep it.
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