86 WWI to WWII weapons siezed by police

[jedi]

This occured in Germany BTW.
German police seize arsenal of wartime weapons - Yahoo! News

Dad died 2 years ago and the son in cleaning the dad's house finds all these WW I and WW II wepaons, explosives, and ammo. He called the police and well bye-bye guns.

One can only hope that they end up in a museum but somehow I really doubt that. Several Tommy Guns were in the mix.

 

[Expat]

What a sheep... guns are bad, I better call and report this right away. If nothing else, I would have quietly enjoyed those for the rest of my lifetime.

 

[IndyMonkey]

Kid probably didn't like loud noises.

 

[45calibre]

that sucks, i bet there was an stg in there.

 

[Cemetery-man]

Stupid is as stupid does. Must not need money, he just gave away a nice inheritance.

 

[Aggar]

Idiot.

 

[snorko]

Stupid is as stupid does. Must not need money, he just gave away a nice inheritance.

Or avoided a life sentence being Gunther's girlfriend.

 

[Walt_Jabsco]

Or avoided a life sentence being Gunther's girlfriend.

Yeah, you guys sort of need to realize that it was incredibly illegal to have those in Germany. It's one thing to hang onto guns in a country where they're legal and acceptable, but basically everything is banned in Germany. Had he been caught with them, he likely would have been in jail for the rest of his life.

 

[Colt556]

I would have liked to have seen what they are calling "Assault Rifles". His gad had em w/o ever going nuts or getting caught. Some rich German Collector with connections will own them now.

 

[SmileDocHill]

WOW, some of the comments by readers at the end of the story are hilarious.

 

[451_Detonics]

The 7 hand grenades alone would have the son in jail being someone's german knuckle cake toy and being told to buck dich. As for the assualt weapons...I would say the Thompsons alone qualify there.

I would say the son made a smart move...besides...how do you know he didn't cherry pick first?

 

[spartan933]

Sucks for him. Also sucks for the people of Germany to have such strict gun laws, considering they make such good firearms.

 

[CandRFan]

I would have liked to have seen what they are calling "Assault Rifles". His gad had em w/o ever going nuts or getting caught. Some rich German Collector with connections will own them now.

Maybe that illegal arsenal included a MP44?

I do wish that article included some details on the collection. They specifically mention Thompsons, but I guess I'm assuming that since the writer threw in "assualt rifles" that there were examples of full auto weapons from that time frame.

Now, say I found that collection here in Indiana. Aside from the obvious stuff like the grenades and explosives, what would my options be as a law-abiding gun owner? Would I get to keep everything after registering the full auto weapons and paying for the tax stamp on them?

There's no way I would just keep quiet and keep all that stuff hidden...heck I'd probably cause a short term ammo shortage in central Indiana, not to mention all the people calling the cops because it would definitely sound like a war was going on from all the shooting!! I'd also want everything good and legal because while I know I'd be keeping several pieces I'd also be busy selling stuff too.

 

[Colt556]

Thompsons are sub machineguns. I was wondering if there were MP43 or 44s, or maybe MP38s or 40s. Maybe an MG42 or G41. Poorly written article for sure..

 

[CandRFan]

I guess I was giving the writer to much credit, knowing that a Thompson wasn't an assault rifle. But like you, the guns that you listed flashed through my brain as potentials in that collection. Maybe it's for the better that the article sucked. It's heartbreaking thinking that those weapons might be destroyed, but knowing that say something rare like a Fallschirmjagergewehr 42 was in that collection and was possibly destined to be trashed???

 

[PatriotPride]

Stupid is as stupid does. Must not need money, he just gave away a nice inheritance.

Yes. Illegal or not, he had potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in his hands that he gave away to be used by the police as they see fit. What do you think the police will do? What they always do---auction them off to the highest bidder. IDIOT.

 

[Hkindiana]

Typical of the same newsmen who routinely refer to semi automatic rifles as "automatics", there is NO mention of whether the grenades were live or deactivated. I spent several years in Germany, and when someone was found in possession of a machine-gun for CRIMINAL intentions, they usually through the book at him. However, when an individual was found to be in possession of an illegal machine-gun (verses a legal deactivated one) in his military collection, the weapon was confiscated, and the individual got a slap on the hand. It all boiled down to perceived intent. Those weapons could have beebread legally deactivated by German standards, and then legally sold for quite a bit of change.

 

[Colt556]

I guess I was giving the writer to much credit, knowing that a Thompson wasn't an assault rifle. But like you, the guns that you listed flashed through my brain as potentials in that collection. Maybe it's for the better that the article sucked. It's heartbreaking thinking that those weapons might be destroyed, but knowing that say something rare like a Fallschirmjagergewehr 42 was in that collection and was possibly destined to be trashed???

I don't they will be destroyed. I bet they substitute some crap guns or replicas and the good stuff gets into some collectors hands. Greed is greed the world over. I just wonder if there is really some good/rare/interesting stuff there or just some K98s and M1s. It's to bad that the people that have designed some of the best weapons on earth are so anti gun now!

 

[jedi]

Now, say I found that collection here in Indiana. Aside from the obvious stuff like the grenades and explosives, what would my options be as a law-abiding gun owner? Would I get to keep everything after registering the full auto weapons and paying for the tax stamp on them?

There's no way I would just keep quiet and keep all that stuff hidden...heck I'd probably cause a short term ammo shortage in central Indiana, not to mention all the people calling the cops because it would definitely sound like a war was going on from all the shooting!! I'd also want everything good and legal because while I know I'd be keeping several pieces I'd also be busy selling stuff too.

Since the 1986 law US Citizens are no longer allowed to register any more full autos (Ie. machineguns) with the ATF. So the only full autos that US Citizens that own at this time are any guns that were registered BEFORE the deadline date. As such in your example above the guns you find say yesterday would be illegal since you can not register them.

So you have 3 choices.
1) Destroy them yourself & say nothing to anyone
2) Call ATF explain what you found and they will take them
3) Do nothing, keep them hidden for
a) a very tiny hope that ATF will allow another "registration period"
b) the time you may really need them (TEOTWAWKI)


There was 1 exception to the 1986 law in which the ATF had an amnesty period after 1986 to allow for more full auto registrations.

The other (not sure how this works) is if a soldier brought back a full auto from the war (I think Vientam and BEFORE wars ONLY) & had the paperwork for it then s/he or his estate can register the full auto at this point with the ATF even after 1986.

In short the answer is NO.

There is a court case (i think) that is being looked at in which a now 21+ over person is challenging the 1986 law becuase the person is claiming that his rights are being blocked from owning a full auto since he was underage when the law went into effect and thus could not regsiter a full auto.

 

[CandRFan]

Since the 1986 law US Citizens are no longer allowed to register any more full autos (Ie. machineguns) with the ATF. So the only full autos that US Citizens that own at this time are any guns that were registered BEFORE the deadline date. As such in your example above the guns you find say yesterday would be illegal since you can not register them.

So you have 3 choices.
1) Destroy them yourself & say nothing to anyone
2) Call ATF explain what you found and they will take them
3) Do nothing, keep them hidden for
a) a very tiny hope that ATF will allow another "registration period"
b) the time you may really need them (TEOTWAWKI)


There was 1 exception to the 1986 law in which the ATF had an amnesty period after 1986 to allow for more full auto registrations.

The other (not sure how this works) is if a soldier brought back a full auto from the war (I think Vientam and BEFORE wars ONLY) & had the paperwork for it then s/he or his estate can register the full auto at this point with the ATF even after 1986.

In short the answer is NO.

There is a court case (i think) that is being looked at in which a now 21+ over person is challenging the 1986 law becuase the person is claiming that his rights are being blocked from owning a full auto since he was underage when the law went into effect and thus could not regsiter a full auto.

Thanks for that info.