Man finds Thompson Submachine gun in Grandma's basement

[U-235]

Saw this on Reddit so take it with a grain of salt. Man claims to have found a Thompson Submachine Gun while cleaning out his Grandma's basement. The photo looks legit. Several people have warned him about the legalities of an automatic weapon.

See the link below, you'll need to replace the *** in the address with W T F (no spaces), the website software censored those letters when I posted the link.

http://www.reddit.com/r/***/comments/1c6zee/

Do the more knowledgeable of you here think this is for real?

 

[Tomcat47]

This makes me wonder .... If it was in his family...

Could he theoretically apply for his stamp and keep it, or would this go all kinds of wrong for him?

And lets assume he is law abiding and Gun is clean... no history not in syaytem as stolen etc.

Its all good just been lost in grandmas basement for 40 years...

 

[smalls]

He needs to have a lawyer figure out if its in the registry. If not, then he needs to dispose if it in a legal manner.

No, you can't add it to the registry.

 

[firesky101]

While I believe there have been a couple of exceptions to the MG registry close, they are rare. I don't know the legalities of or the paperwork necessary to have a snowballs chance in heck of getting the ATF to sign off, but it will be a lot.

ETA: thought I had read a story here or there about war relics with a specific type of paperwork, but I cannot find it now. The only exception I see is if you can surface the tax stamp to counter the ATF's (self admitted) shoddy record keeping.

 

[hso]

If it isn't in the registry it needs to be turned in ASAP to avoid a felony charge.

 

[rcmodel]

This is very likely legit.
And very likely the gun will be seized by the ATF and cut up with a torch.

Unfortunately this sort of thing is very likely to happen more and more often as all the old WWII vets die off now and the guns they brought home with them re-surface out of old homes.

They will never be legal now, if they weren't properly registered prior to the 1986 cut-off date?

They will all be destroyed, no exceptions.
Unless your grandfather was General Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, or somebody else very famous.

rc

 

[BigBore44]

Could it be donated to a museum so its not actually destroyed? It appears to be in fantastic shape.

 

[303tom]

Been me no one would have ever known about it..................

 

[coolluke01]

Interesting how rules about guns never have exceptions, but illegal immigrants get an exception...
Rant over.

Sad to see such fine guns destroyed.

 

[Tomcat47]

I was thinking museum also.....

And now I am thinking he is an idiot for posting it on the internet!

He should have researched all legal aspects and left the world out of it!

 

[Dentite]

Taking a page from some we should just call it "undocumented" not illegal.

 

[BBQJOE]

This is why it's so important to let everyone in the world know what you're doing by posting on FB and everywhere else.:banghead:

 

[shiftyer1]

I seen some pretty cool things come out of basements and attics!!!!!

 

[InkEd]

That would be awesome to discover!

 

[frankenstein406]

if he got a semi auto receiver for it could he keep it if he destroyed the other one?

 

[Robbins290]

So? Lets say it was registered in 1968. And it was in his grand fathers name. Could he legally own after all the legal paper work went thru?

Im kinda in the same boat. But the "firearm" in question was my great grand fathers and all the paper work was in his name. But he died a year after that in 1969 and no one registered it after that. It's not a tommy gun but wished it was

 

[Bobson]

Been me no one would have ever known about it..................

That's the part that makes me think its fake. Enough said, I think.

 

[Vector]

If it isn't in the registry it needs to be turned in ASAP to avoid a felony charge.

I guess I am ignorant when it comes to machine guns, since I was not aware there was a registry of them. Heck how hard would it be for the government to know where they are and confiscate them if there is such a registration process

Granted I know some about what it takes to get "permission" to own one(i.e. tax stamp), but did not realize law abiding gun owners readily accepted such an infringement on our 2A rights.
I guess I can therefore assume this form or taking away our 2A rights has never been challenged in court?

 

[smalls]

I guess I am ignorant when it comes to machine guns, since I was not aware there was a registry of them. Heck how hard would it be for the government to know where they are and confiscate them if there is such a registration process

There is a registry of all legal machine guns. The registry was closed in '86, and no new machine guns may be created for civilian use. You pay the tax stamp every time one that is on the list is transferred to a new person.

 

[hickorynut]

It very well could be reproduction semi auto. It does look new. I know someone this happened to, man passed and the wife found one in the basement call me scared to death what to do with this illegal machine gun. was kind funny to me not her. come to find out he had won it in a raffle back in the 70s

 

[nwilliams]

Could be real. Amazing guns have been found by people now and then...

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlin...e-wwii-gun-at-police-station-weapon-buy-back/

http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/01/06/news/residents-give-up-more-than-40-weapons.html

So it's not out of the question that there could be full auto Thompsons out there buried in people's garages, attics and basements and forgotten about for decades. It seems to me that if something like this is found it would appeal to a firearms museum and could possibly be donated. If I found something like this I would contact the NRA's National Firearms Museum and see what they say.

 

[rodinal220]

Looking at the photo tells me its either a West Hurley made gun or a non-firing Collectors Amoury model.The wood is not WW2 for a 1921/28 style model,the wood would be rounded on the pistol and fore grip.
The finish doesn't look right and looks more like a zinc(Zamak) Collectors Armoury wall hanger.

 

[scaatylobo]

IF real

If its a real story about a REAL firearm.

Is it possible its a semi auto version [ I owned one way back when ] made by the same folks ?.

I cannot tell from that pic if it has a "rock & roll" switch.

And I agree it does not have the "look" of the real deal,I have had the luck to see & handle a few when I was LEO [ even got to fire um ] and that is missing patina and the "look".

 

[dprice3844444]

if it was previously registered to a deceased parent,he could probably get it transferred free via probate.lawyer would have to send a request to nfa enquiring if grandpop had any registered nfa act weapons,and go from there.otherwise strip it and sell the parts before turning it in.

 

[Sam1911]

I guess I am ignorant when it comes to machine guns, since I was not aware there was a registry of them. Heck how hard would it be for the government to know where they are and confiscate them if there is such a registration process

It isn't just machine guns, and it isn't recent.

The "National Firearms Act" was passed in 1934 and required that all machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, silencers, and a variety of other miscellaneous firearms be entered into a registry held by the federal government.

(Originally it was intended that all handguns would also require registration, but that was struck from the bill before it was passed. Only in the context of that does the restriction on SBRs and SBSs make even a scrap of sense.)

In the last almost 80 years, the federal government has not moved to confiscate those registered firearms. But hey, maybe they will tomorrow!