J.F.K.'s personal Garand up for sale.....50-100K?

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Interesting story, thanks for posting it.

Anyway, I would pay 50K for it since I know the next time it goes up for sale, it would sell for more. That is the way these things work, really rare and high ticket items have to sell several times to get the full value. The more times they go up for auction, the more they are worth.
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Tell that to the guy who paid 3 million for McGwire's 70th home run ball a couple years ago. Big ticket items at auction are like any other investment . . . risky.
 
I think Senator Kennedy should be gifted this gun since it is a family heirloom...
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I don't think Teddy is interested in owning anything gun related.
With his personal history of self abuse with alcohol, is he even eligible to own a FA in his state? :what:
 
There's a difference in paying three times the estimate for the McGwire ball (which would have maintained its value, perhaps lost a few percent if not for steroids - the market for baseball memorabilia hasn't exactly tanked since 2000) and a 50-year old Presidential item.

We're not going to find out anything about Kennedy or Presidents in general that would destroy the value of the rifle. Whether it would increase in value or not is rather more unpredictable - but it certainly wouldn't shed money akin to a HR ball.
 
I always liked how Kennedy was quite pro gun and a member of the NRA. Every president since him has been about as anti as they come unfortantly.
 
What makes JFK's Garand more valuable than ours? Provenance. It's associated with a person of great historical significance and there's no shortage of documents to prove it.

Don't hate all the Kennedys just because of Teddy. As other members have pointed out, JFK was a NRA life member. That his brother Teddy forgot that and brought discredit upon JFK's belief is no fault of JFK.
 
Today's Democrats little resemble the Democrats of JFK's day. However, the Republicans of today also little resemble the Republicans of JFK's day.
JFK might have been our last POTUS who you could really describe as a gun enthusiast. LBJ did some hunting, but I don't think you could describe him as liking guns for their own sake. Nixon actively disliked them. Gerald Ford wasn't known as either a hunter or shooter. Carter was a hunter, but I remember him making some anti-handgun type statements. Reagan was known to own a Gyrojet pistol, among other things, but froze the machinegun registry and actively lobbied for the assault weapons ban. George Bush owned guns but wasn't what you could call an enthusiast...I always thought he'd have been happy to restrict the "proles" from having arms. Clinton we all clearly remember. GWB is known to own several firearms, but brushcutting seems to be his true love.
As for why JFK's rifle is worth more than yours...that's easy. In terms of name recognition and a place in history, JFK is somebody. You are nobody. So am I. A gun with known provenance to a famous historic person will always bring more than an identical gun that belonged to John Q. Nobody.
 
In JFK's time, the NRA wasn't a lobbying organization and the anti-gun movement as we know it didn't exist. Joining the NRA just to get votes wouldn't have been something that a politician did. You can dislike JFK if it pleases you to do so, but there is plenty of good historic evidence that he liked guns. Why it is important to you to paint him as a hypocrite on that, only you know.
 
Not trying to hi-jack this thread but Kungfu got me wondering what ever
became of Oswald's Carcano and where it is today?
 
quotes from jfk on 2a

John F. Kennedy: "By calling attention to 'a well regulated militia,' 'the security of the nation,' and the right of each citizen 'to keep and bear arms,' our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy... The Second Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important." John F. Kennedy, Junior Senator of MA in a 1959 letter to E.B. Mann

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
-- John F. Kennedy

"Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom."
-- John F. Kennedy
 
Joe
Thanks for reminding me that we have a National Archives. I must be having
long weekend brain fade. I am sure that is probably where it is at. I went to
the NA web site and found lots of interesting reading regarding the subject.
 
Lone Gunman:

What did the Bill Clinton rant have to do with a discussion of JFK's Garand? Political discussion is forbidden here now.
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Thank you for reminding me that the former "Legal and Political" section is now the "Legal" section. I wasn't aware that the "General Gun Discussions" section had become an extension of the "Legal" section now, or that my comments on attitudes towards guns at the time of Bill Clinton's presidency are political while other people's comments about guns at the time of John Fitzgerald Kennedy's presidency are not political. Comments about Ted Kennedy's non-presidency in this same thread presumably are not political. I find it difficult to follow your logic but I am always eager to comply with the requests of you moderators.

John F. Kennedy therefore is not and never was political for the purposes of this thread and, for the same purposes, his attitudes towards firearms were entirely personal and have nothing to do with politics. Please ignore my comments about the Clintons too: I never even heard their names and have no idea what connection they or anyone else had with whatever it is we're talking about. The M-1 Garand in the photograph therefore must be worth much less than an arsenal rebuild available at many gun shows, because it has been reworked out of the spirit of a military firearm, and less even than one of the Garands available from the CMP. I don't even understand now why the original poster bothered to mention this one.

I now see that there are far too many comments about politicians and politics in this thread. Many of them seem to be "rants," which I gather has something to do with the writing of coherent paragraphs that communicate actual thoughts. I apologize for my "rant." Thanks again for your intervention.
 
Hkmp5sd: Don't forget that Kennedy was a Life NRA member. He wasn't your typical Democrat anti.
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Quite true. One should keep in mind that JFK was part of the “old time” Democratic party. The only similarity of the Dems today to those of 50 years ago is the name of the party.
 
Every president since him has been about as anti as they come unfortantly
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Ever been to the Regan Library? He was very pro RKBA and had some very nice examples. I have pictures somewhere.
John F. Kennedy's alleged indiscretions, his political errors etc aside, stands as one of only three U.S. presidents since the last war on our own soil that were true leaders, with allegiance to our country IMO.
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Wow, that's koolaid drinking if I ever saw it IMO. I don't disagree that there have been very few good presidents lately. I just don't see why you lumped Kennedy in with them.

All aside, it would be a nice piece for a collection. There are many things from presidents (liked and disliked) I'd like to own/see. I'd love Regan's personal jeep from his ranch. I'd love Bush's mountain bike. I'd love to get Dick Cheney's shotgun (even if he's a VP)
 
Ever been to the Regan Library? He was very pro RKBA and had some very nice examples.
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Reagan also closed the machine gun registry in 1986, banned importation of some foreign made assault weapons, and supported the Clinton AWB.

But again, I have to ask myself why this thread is still open. It has degenerated into a political debate, and I guess I am not helping.
 
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Reagan also signed the most comprehensive gun control measure in CA history into law as governor, the Mulford Act. It was a direct result of dear of the Black Panthers.
 
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