What if,Full auto ????

[jwr_747]

This probably should be addressed to my local ATF agent,but I thought I would try it here first.
While digging thru your grand dad's stuff you find his Thompson sub gun. One he got/bought long time ago.No paper work just beautiful gun.Pretty sure you can't keep it,hate to see it destroyed. Can it be given to a museum as is,or does it have to be "ATF cut"?? Or could you weld up the insides so it looks ok from the outside?? just wondering,thanks...jwr

 

[Midwest]

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=570018

NFA Items and Inheritance -- i.e: What to do with grandpa's Machine Gun


"If there are unregistered NFA firearms in the estate, these firearms are contraband and cannot be registered by the estate. The executor of the estate should contact the local ATF office to arrange for the abandonment of the unregistered firearms."

"Remember, an unregistered NFA Title II weapon is completely illegal. Keeping one you find opens you to federal felony charges for which the criminal sentences can include TEN YEARS in federal prison and up to $250,000 in fines."

 

[AlexanderA]

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_17/322347_So_you_found_an_MG_in_the_attic______.html

 

[Tommygunn]

This actually happened to a friend of mine @ 25 years ago when I was living in another state. His father died, and I was helping him clean out his house -- the attic specifically. Carried a massive footlocker that weighed more than the Rock of Gibralter downstairs and had to smash open a padlocked hasp.
Whole bunch of good stuff, most of which was legal, like a Colt 1911 in 45 caliber and magazines, and unforms and stuff.
Then wrapped in oilpaper, a 1928A1 Thompson. YIKES! I mean YIKES!

It was in pretty good condition as well. There was a pouch with a few magazines. There was also a lot of ammo for both the pistol and the Tommygun.
That caused a big stir. It also happened the last day I was able to help him, so I don't REALLY know what he did, but I told him to GET A LAWYER and get some good advice that way.

It's really a crying shame that things like that happen and the NFA weapons have to be turned in as they are unregistered, but it isn't worth the punishment if caught.

 

[oneounceload]

I agree, but dontcha wanna go shoot it at least once before it gets destroyed?????

 

[JellyJar]

A local museum was cleaning out some old stuff a couple of years back and they found a perfectly good Lewis Machine gun from WWI. It had been apparently donated way back before the NFA laws were enacted. They had to have it demilled to keep it.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Avoid the temptation to take it out and shoot it. Try and explain to an ATF enforcement agent that you were going to turn it in as contraband but just had to try it out first.

First contact a lawyer with experience in NFA items, inheritance, etc. If the relative had the proper bringback papers signed by a superior officer showing the gun was an authorized war trophy before certain dates, that might serve as legal paperwork to allow entry into the NFA registry. Or not.

In all cases of questioned NFA items, you, your legal representaive or estate executor contact ATF with the discovery. Don't do anything that would have ATF find you with questionable NFA items first.

My late stepdad told me about a retired bank guard he knew who had bought a Thompson when he was working in the 1950s under some kind of occupational exemption, and kept it after he retired (but it was not registered as a civilian MG). Years later he got a knock on the door from feds inquiring as to the disposition of the gun (the paperwork had been inventoried or something). He had it up in the attic in a trunk with his memorabilia. They took possession of the gun (needless to say).

 

[627PCFan]

Couldn't you just ditch the sear?

 

[medalguy]

You can ditch the sear, barrel, sights, safety, stock, bolt, screws and washers. As long as the receiver is intact, it falls under NFA. Even if it is welded into a solid block of steel, it still requires registration as a DEWAT although the DEWAT program ended in 1968. Only if it is cut per BATF requirements can it be kept. That's one option, by the way, AFTER you remove every single part from the gun for resale later. But the receiver must be cut.

There is no way to get a newly-found MG registered, period. End of story. It can be cut up or donated to a federally-recognized museum IF they will accept it. Most don't want them, leaving the sole option to surrender it to BATFE by your attorney, not by you...

 

[Tommygunn]

You can ditch the sear, barrel, sights, safety, stock, bolt, screws and washers. As long as the receiver is intact, it falls under NFA.

Actually you can keep the sears, barrel, sights, etc., that are listed. It's the receiver that's a no-no.
There are dummy Thompsons that have all these permissable parts that are attached to CNC'd aluminum receivers and are completly inert and legal.

 

[CapnMac]

After FOPA's Hughes slammed the door in our collective faces, this very situation had been pushed to the brink with every discovery of such relics.
It just seems too "reasonable" to have some "leeway" like to go shoot a few rounds off, or that "possession" is "ok" as long as it is to disassemble the item.
Sadly, the letter of the law is plain and absolute--and "ignorance is no excuse."

This will go trundling along until somebody's famous-enough veteran relative is tossed into irons over it.

 

[brickeyee]

NEVER take free legal advice from a government agency.

They DO NOT have your best interest under consideration.

 

[Sam1911]

Question is answered and starting to draw illegal suggestions.