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A police department in Virginia sat on a seized German military rifle for almost a decade before moving to turn it over to a military museum. The Chesapeake Police Department seized a Sturmgewehr 44 in 2009 from a felon that could no longer possess the firearm. Seeing that it had historical significance — the StG 44 is considered by many to be the first true “assault rifle” due to its select-fire design and use of an intermediate cartridge — the agency rendered it inoperable and this week moved to have the City Council approve donating the piece to the...

Rare German STG 44 Sturmgeweer is saved by cops during a neighborhood buy-back program, just in time before it was to be destroyed.Video Here

When people see the AK-47 and the StG-44 side by side and know nothing about their internal mechanisms, the nearly universal assumption is that one is a copy of the other. The overall layout of the two rifles is strikingly similar, and one would reasonably make the assumption that Kalashnikov got his hands on a captured StG and simply rebuilt it in 7.62×39. This is, of course, not true.

(NECN/NBC News: Jeff Saperstone) - Police officers in Connecticut received one very unusual weapon during a gun buy-back program last week -- the gun was from World War II and is worth over $30,000. All sorts of guns were turned in at the gun buy-back event in Hartford last Saturday, but one weapon caught the eyes of officers. "The chance to see a piece of history -- this … is absolutely unbelievable,” said Officer Lewis Crabtree of the Hartford Police Dept.

I imagine there are plenty of collectors out there who would give their eyeteeth for one of these, and chances are the rebels think they're just AK knockoffs...

ROCHESTER, NY –-(Ammoland.com)- American Tactical Imports, a worldwide importer of firearms, is proud to introduce the GSG STG-44 to consumers at the Raahauges Shooting Sports Fair June 1-3 2012. The German Sport Guns .22LR STG-44 is the newest addition to the exciting line of GSG firearms. The demo was introduced at SHOT Show 2012, but now consumers will be able to see, handle and shoot the GSG STG-44 from ATI for the first time. The STG 44 (Sturmgewehr 44, literally “Storm Rifle”) was designed in 1944 in Nazi Germany and is considered by many historians to be the first modern...

The AK-47 is a weapon of choice for rebels and gangsters the world over... a staggering 100 million AKs have been produced so far - enough to arm all the armies of the worldThe AK is a weapon of choice all over the world A two-year legal dispute between Russian companies for the copyright of the world-famous Kalashnikov assault rifle has been won by its original producer in the Urals. Kalashnikovs - or AK-47s - are made in 19 countries, of which only a few have been paying royalties. Those not paying have claimed there was not a sole patent...