Surise and grandpa's

These things have turned up with regularity over the years and I have never heard of any being prosecuted. However, it is bonehead thinking to have these things around...nostalgia or not.

I have never heard of anybody getting prosecuted to the full extent of the law because dad or grandpa had a unregistered machine gun or hand grenade. They might confiscate the item, but it also depends on your knowledge of the law.

If you are a FFL dealer and you have paid your SOT (class 3) and the ATF does an inspection and see a original Thompson in your safe, your probably not going to have that gun much longer and your license might get taken off the wall.

I'm not one to advocate turning in things that are family owned just because there are words written down on paper, somewhere, that says I have to. Nor do I advocate doing so out of fear that tyrants will send henchmen to capture and enslave you, if you do not follow their every order. HOWEVER, I would not be ANYWHERE near out dated X'plôz. I would have called 911 just as fast as if the house was ablaze. I'm glad to hear your story ended with a chuckle and not crying.

On a side note, one of my buddies picked up a dummy/training Japanese anti-tank mine,, we set it in our office, right next to where the Bomb Squad parked their truck and used it as a door stop... One of the Bomb Squad guys came by, we asked him to close the door, when he budged that dummy mine, he turned ghost white.. was pretty funny..

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This right here......is a jerk move

Well, this type of thing was fairly common after World War II. Various bits of ordinance would get brought back and sneaked into the States. And it still obviously turns up every now and then. Law enforcement pretty much treats these legacy explosives as they always have: they get rid of it, but don't prosecute. I mean, really, they're not going to prosecute a 90 year old World War II vet who did something stupid at age 20 and then forgot about it for all these years. It would even be hard to argue in court that he knowingly possessed it.

JCMB! I would want to cook one off but my brain would have kicked in and I would have done the same thing. When my grandmother died (after grandfather) we had to call the ATF to get rid of some stuff. They just picked it up like they do it all the time.

TNT gets unstable with time. IIRC, it starts to sweat out nitroglycerine.
That is not something I'd want to be anywhere near.
For my money, the bomb squad can have 'em. I don't want 'em.
I don't want aything X'ploz. Propellants are one thing. X'ploz are way too dangerous to play with.
Ever see the pics of the left hand of the guy who made 37mm bird bombs and tried to shoot one? It went boom in the tube. Not much left of his hand. Had to have it amputated above the wrist.
I wouldn't want any part of it.

"TNT gets unstable with time. IIRC, it starts to sweat out nitroglycerine."

Nope. That's dynamite. TNT is difficult to detonate on a good day. Old TNT can develop cracks where impurities can accumulate which increases sensitivity to shock, but it's still very stable.

ECS

Oop, mah bad!

I still don't mess with X'ploz. Stable or otherwise, they do nasty things.
When I was in my early teens, there was a Korean teen who was making his own X'ploz using pipe. He was screwing the cap on it when it went BOOM!
My best friend's dad was EMS and responded to the 911 call.
He described the limb loss/injuries and the fact that the surgeons were going to have to "rig up a way for him to pee".
That was more than enough reason for me to never mess with any.
IF I ever had any interest in them, it died that day.
I'd like to keep all five of my appendages attached and undamaged.

Plus, I hear tell that there are a LOT of unpleasant activities in prison.

I'm glad that there are demolitions and EOD professionals who know how to use/deal with them. I wouldn't want to be one of them.
Just like with firefighters. I'm glad there are folks who run into burning buildings for a living, but I can't resist my natural urge to run away from them.

Let's once more point out that possessing ONE of these grenades is a crime with a penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

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It's actually 10 years/$10,000. And IIRC federal sentencing guidelines would pretty much guarantee probation for a first offense where the only violation is possession. Someone would have to already be a felon or be committing other crimes at the same time to get the max.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/5871

Still stupid to play around with them though.

CleverNickname said:

It's actually 10 years/$10,000. And IIRC federal sentencing guidelines would pretty much guarantee probation for a first offense where the only violation is possession. Someone would have to already be a felon or be committing other crimes at the same time to get the max.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/5871

Still stupid to play around with them though.

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Nobody gets off with probation for possession of an unregistered machine gun. It's usually two and a half to three and a half years in prison, if that's the only charge and a first offence. You get a Federal felony. You lose your right to vote or ever possess firearms again. There is no expungement. You need a Presidential pardon.

It's actually 10 years/$10,000.

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Really?

The ATF says:

Q: What can happen to someone who has an NFA firearm which is not registered to him?

Violators may be fined not more than $250,000, and imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both. In addition, any vessel, vehicle or aircraft used to transport, conceal or possess an unregistered NFA firearm is subject to seizure and forfeiture, as is the weapon itself.

[49 U.S.C. 781-788, 26 U.S.C. 5861 and 5872]

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Elm Creek Smith said:

Old TNT can develop cracks where impurities can accumulate which increases sensitivity to shock, but it's still very stable.

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How pure was late-war Japanese TNT?

...and that makes it scary.

I believe they upped the penalties a few years back...

Luckily I doubt they would would prosecute an 87 year old man and give him 10 years. I wouldn't play around with such hardware either, seems too dangerous and risky for me.

Couldn't you legally register one of those grenades? Can someone educate me on the ownership of grenades?

Couldn't you legally register one of those grenades? Can someone educate me on the ownership of grenades?

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Like all other NFA items, registration happens prior to (or at the point of, if an SOT2 manufacturer) making of the item. If an NFA item is not registered, then it is contraband and cannot be registered.

See the ATF's NFA FAQ: http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/national-firearms-act-firearms.html

Nobody gets off with probation for possession of an unregistered machine gun. It's usually two and a half to three and a half years in prison, if that's the only charge and a first offence. You get a Federal felony. You lose your right to vote or ever possess firearms again. There is no expungement. You need a Presidential pardon.

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Never say never. I use to do some work for a law firm

I know of a guy out in Cali that got poped with 2 unregistered MGs. Drew Probation and got re-instatement of his rights at the end of it. It just took good lawyers and a bunch of money. I was not priviy to the details of the plea agreement but I did see the outcome of it. No Prison and retained his rights (I don't recall if there was afine or restatution but I would suspect there was).

WB