What can be done with this old Thompson?

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DC300a

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I have an elderly neighbor... ok several miles down the road... but i have known him for a long time. A couple of months ago I was over at his house we were talking about the weather, women, and guns.


He told me he has a Thompson Sub-Machinegun (the military kind with the straight foregrip) that he has owned for years. Other than some light suface rust and couple digs in the wood, weapon is in excellent shape.

He asks me what it is worth and I told him I would do some research and find out. I also asked him if he had paperwork on it and he said no. Apparently, the weapon is not regitered and has never had a tax stamp.... What can be done to make this weapon legal?? Thanks!
 
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Remove all the legal (non regulated) parts of the gun and assemble them onto a semi-auto receiver. Find out FOR SURE whether or not it is registered though.

Of course, simply possessing any unregistered machinegun is illegal, and disposing of the receiver would be destroying evidence of a felony crime. Just sayin.
 
If it's not legal now, it never will be. Sounds like a "duffel bag gun" that he smuggled home from the military? If it is, and it was never registered properly, all it's good for is some serious prison time. Cryin' damn shame too, there's still a lot of FA weapons like that out there. I'll never forget when I was a kid, I was with my dad visiting somebody he knew, and this old feller had a German MG42 (maybe MG34) laying across the rafters in his garage, his "war trophy".
 
Straight off of the ATF's website:

Q: May a private citizen who owns an NFA firearm which is not registered have the firearm registered?

No. The NFA permits only manufacturers, makers, and importers to register firearms. Mere possessors may not register firearms. An unregistered NFA firearm is a contraband firearm, and it is unlawful to possess the weapon. The possessor should contact the nearest ATF office to arrange for its disposition.

[26 U.S.C. 5861(d)]

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]

Q: What should a person do if he or she comes into possession of an unregistered NFA firearm?

Contact the nearest ATF office immediately.

His opportunity to make it legal was the month of December, 1968. If he doesn't give it up to be destroyed, he's just leaving a headache (or temptation toward a felony conviction) for whomever inherits his estate.
 
Man, what a shame.....I'd at least take a bunch of photos of it while I could, before the JBT's swoop in and haul it away.
 
Donate it to a museum.
Can't do that either.

The ATF confiscated an unregistered machinegun captured by Sgt. York in WWI from a museum a couple of years ago.

rc
 
THanks for all the info gentlemen. I will pass it along and he can deicide for himself what he wants to do.

It is a damned shame.
 
Unregistered MGs are going to start turning up a lot more as that generation passes away. I wonder if it would be possible to put forth some sort of bill that would allow them to be registered, a "preserving our history" type of bill, as well as an initial stepping stone to repealing the Hughes amendment (and maybe NFA someday).
 
A shame we have such laws that even things of historical significance can't even be kept.
I think I would be looking at some PVC pipe or a good pelican case and leave the thing for another 50 yrs if need be. Someday there may be a new law or no laws at all, either way it would be nice to know where you could get a good Thompson. (all hypothetical of course)
 
Don't feel bad. If it really is an M1 model, and if it had been papered while it still could be, it wouldn't be worth much over $20,000 now.
 
Unregistered MGs are going to start turning up a lot more as that generation passes away. I wonder if it would be possible to put forth some sort of bill that would allow them to be registered, a "preserving our history" type of bill, as well as an initial stepping stone to repealing the Hughes amendment (and maybe NFA someday).
It's been done for several years but has never gotten any traction in Congress.
http://www.ammoland.com/2010/04/15/veteran-machine-gun-amnesty-period-gets-no-support-from-washington-Democrats/
 
the weapon is not regitered and has never had a tax stamp.... What can be done to make this weapon legal??
Sad but legally all he can do is strip the parts and destroy the receiver. :(
Whatever he decides, he needs to deal with it before he dies. That's a heck of a problem to pass on to the executor of his Will.
 
I have assisted in similar situations twice before. Have him turn the gun over to an attorney he knows after removing all possible parts from the receiver, including the barrel. More on this later. The attorney can contact BATFE to see if the gun was ever registered, even though you state it was not. Double check because if it was, and the gun is destroyed, there will be some serious explaining to do some day.

If it turns out the gun was not registered, the attorney can surrender the receiver to BATFE since it is considered contraband. The attorney will not reveal the name of the owner because of client confidentiality and BATFE will not ask.

The owner can then sell the parts for quite a bit of money. Small consolation but that's about it.

By the way, BATFE may or may not be able to tell if the gun is registered. They have lost quite a few papers through the years. Just FYI.
 
I've been keeping my eye on that veterans war trophy bill since last year and it's a shame it never went anywhere. These "evil unregistered machine guns" are historical artifacts and part of our heritage and should be given better treatment other than the blowtorch.

My grandfather, a WW2 vet, passed away in 2006 and I was given a 1935 Italian Berreta that he picked up in Italy. I can only imagine the <deleted> storm that would of entered my world if it was an unregistered machine gun instead.

In the immortal worlds of Ted Striker from the movie Airplane!: "What a pisser!"
 
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who knows?

He could always donate it to a local PD, hopefully work something out with them so he could at least shoot it from time to time. It would be put on ATF form 10.

He could hope another Amnesty would be declared and get it registered, or possibly donate it to a museum.

Alvin York captured belt-fed was SAVED from torch by the way...it can happen every now and again.

JP
 
Alvins Yorks captured Maxim was found in a library and then donated to a federal museum.
 
It's been done for several years but has never gotten any traction in Congress.
http://www.ammoland.com/2010/04/15/v...ton-Democrats/
Maybe now that the repubs. hold the house it'll get some more traction, who knows. Spearheading something like this would be a quick way for a new tea party republican to make a name for himself/herself.

Can't do that either.

The ATF confiscated an unregistered machinegun captured by Sgt. York in WWI from a museum a couple of years ago.
Alvins Yorks captured Maxim was found in a library and then donated to a federal museum.
Soo, did the person who donated the unregistered maxim to the library go to prison?
 
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