Woman turns in historic Nazi assault rifle at Conn. gun buy-back

[Temporary_User]

http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/11/wo...-gun-buy-back/

When police officers announced this year’s gun buy-back program would allow residents to exchange their guns for Wal-Mart gift certificates, they never expected a woman possessing a World War II-era Nazi Assault Rifle to take the bait.

The gun buy-back program allows residents to anonymously turn in firearms to be destroyed. In exchange, the Hartford Police Department gives them a $50 or $100 gift card to Wal-Mart, depending on the type of weapon.

The Sturmgewehr 44, meaning “storm rifle,” dates back to 1944. Crabtree revealed it was the first “modern assault rifle ever made, eventually replaced by the AK 47 in 1947 by Russia, who copied the German design of the Sturmgewehr 44.”

The article states the gun is worth $20-25,000 but the video on the site states $30-40,000.
The video is well worth the quick watch, a lot more information on the gun is provided and you can tell the officers are giddy just be be able to hold the gun.

The cops doing the right thing by not destroying the gun, allowing the lady to keep it and sell it.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Temporary_User

The cops doing the right thing by not destroying the gun, allowing the lady to keep it and sell it.

Totally agree. I know there are many on this site that hate firearms but some of them are important pieces of history. This one very much being one of them, what a find.

That the one thing about these guns for cash things that cops set up that concern me. some valuable pieces of history are being turned in and melted down.

Had the exact same thing happen to me. My parents had an old WW2 rifle down in their basement. My mom really wanted to turn it in but it was my Grandfathers rifle and I wanted to keep it in the family. Got my licence and got busy trying to see if I could get it back into working condition.

Managed to do that and when I brought it to a gunsmith to confirm it was safe to shoot, his eyes just about popped out of his head. Turned out that I had a rare Lee Enfield No4 Mk (T) that was very rare and valuable. Not as valuable as this one but he descirbed it as the firearm equivalent of finding a Picaso in your basement.

[BloodFetish]

During Christmas my brother-in-law said he found a gun in a storage cupboard at their parents home. It was hard to identify, but turned out to be a Gewehr 88, manufactured by Steyr in 1891. It was in terrible condition and missing parts, but most interesting was the name and military unit scratched into the stock.

Interesting side-note is that the Gewehr 88 was one of the very first rifles, if not the first, to take advantage of the then brand-new smokeless powder.

Anyway, I bet there are thousands of weapons taken home from wars that are just waiting to be discovered. I'll ask my brother-in-law to look around for another Sturmgewehr 44...

[Locke]

That is so cool, I hope they dont destroy it. Hell, the police should just sell it themselves and use the cash to fund the department or something. Or just keep it around as a souvenir.

I do feel a little bad for the woman though. She didnt do anything wrong (that I know of) but she kind of gets screwed out of $25K.

[AC]

Originally Posted by Locke

I do feel a little bad for the woman though. She didnt do anything wrong (that I know of) but she kind of gets screwed out of $25K.

That's not what happened.

“We did not take the gun in for the gun buy-back program,” Crabtree said. “If we took it as part of the buy-back, we would have no choice but to destroy the gun. We don’t want to destroy that gun.”
The anonymous owner opted to keep the historic weapon at the police station until she is prepared to sell.

Originally Posted by Temporary_User

The cops doing the right thing by not destroying the gun, allowing the lady to keep it and sell it.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by Locke

That is so cool, I hope they dont destroy it. Hell, the police should just sell it themselves and use the cash to fund the department or something. Or just keep it around as a souvenir.

I do feel a little bad for the woman though. She didnt do anything wrong (that I know of) but she kind of gets screwed out of $25K.

It's still hers.

“We did not take the gun in for the gun buy-back program,” Crabtree said. “If we took it as part of the buy-back, we would have no choice but to destroy the gun. We don’t want to destroy that gun.”

The anonymous owner opted to keep the historic weapon at the police station until she is prepared to sell.

[Locke]

Thats cool then. Good guy Cops.

When she sells it she should share the cash with the cops for doing the right thing.