[2dogs]

http://www.wtrf.com/home/headlines/188291.html

Borough May Sell Tommy Gun
from WTRF.com...Taking the Lead.


A western Pennsylvania town is considering selling its 75-year-old Thompson automatic machine gun among other guns that its police force no longer uses.

Irwin may sell the machine gun, made famous by gangsters and the lawmen who fought them and known as a "Tommy gun," to help raise money for the police force.

The borough, about 15 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, has owned the machine gun since 1957 when it bought the Tommy gun from the federal government.

Police Chief John Karasek says someone made an offer to buy the machine gun for two thousand, 500 dollars several years ago and it may be worth more now. Money from the Tommy gun sale would likely be used to help buy officers new side arms.

Irwin may also sell .357 revolvers, a Colt .45 revolver and some .38-caliber revolvers.

[Joe Demko]

Lots of dinky PA depts. have Tommy guns, Reisings, M3's and other full-auto goodies that they picked up in various ways. Some they got from the feds, some (Tommy guns) date way back to the days when the police were mainly for kicking unruly steelworkers and coal miners back into line. Nothing breaks up a strike like a little full-auto action, they say. Lots of depts. have been selling this stuff off since the 80's. The little town where I grew up had an armory complete with a Tommy gun, a Reising, an M-16 (NOT an M-16A1), a Crossman tranquilizer gun, a whole raft of Winchester lever guns in .32 special, assorted teargas launchers, an M-14 and I don't remember what all. This stuff was in addition to the 1911's and shotguns that were issued to the patrolmen. All this for a 12 man force in a town of less than 10,000 people. They sold the bulk of it off in the early 90's, I heard and used the proceeds to buy all kinds of stuff other than guns.

[dinosaur]

I`ve been trying to get into the basement of the local P.D. for years now.:banghead: The Chief assures me there`s nothing down there. Lies, all lies I tell you!:cuss:

[4v50 Gary]

If I wasn't in CA, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

[blades67]

Irwin may also sell .357 revolvers, a Colt .45 revolver and some .38-caliber revolvers.

:what:

That's a dirty lie! There's no way Mike Irwin would sell any of his revolvers!:evil: :neener: :evil:

[Mike Irwin]

I've never even been to Irwin, Pennsylvania.

And as far as I can tell, the person for whom it was named is no relation...

[bogie]

At least one of the municipalities here in the St. Louis area used to have a .50 M2...

[Don45cal]

The new GOV, Rendell, will never allow a sale to happen. He will melt them down.

[sixgun_symphony]

The new GOV, Rendell, will never allow a sale to happen. He will melt them down.

If they're not sold to another PD, then you are probably correct.