The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - What if you found a Thompson submachine gun?

PTK · February 5, 2011, 07:53 PM

I no longer have to play "what if" on this kind of question. Recently, I've gotten back into construction/contracting on homes. One lady's house that I was remodeling, I found a Reising SMG in the bathroom wall behind the tiles (it was rusted, but intact)

I immediately called the local PD, who sent a couple of very helpful officers over, who took photos, made sure of my story, made sure I didn't touch it before calling, etc. They had a local BATFE field agent come over, who then took the SMG with her. She ran the numbers or whatever they do, and it came up as stolen property. Property got returned, I got in no trouble. Story over.

What's nice is that implicitly, they were telling me that if it were registered with no legal owner currently or heirs lined up, I would have been able to keep it by paying a $200 tax. The big difference in this case is that the owner was still alive, and that it had been stolen years and years before.

I've yet to have any bad experience with the BATFE, and I've dealt with them a few times a year for a while now.

February 5, 2011, 07:53 PM	#60
PTK Senior Member Join Date: March 20, 2008 Posts: 442	I no longer have to play "what if" on this kind of question. Recently, I've gotten back into construction/contracting on homes. One lady's house that I was remodeling, I found a Reising SMG in the bathroom wall behind the tiles (it was rusted, but intact) I immediately called the local PD, who sent a couple of very helpful officers over, who took photos, made sure of my story, made sure I didn't touch it before calling, etc. They had a local BATFE field agent come over, who then took the SMG with her. She ran the numbers or whatever they do, and it came up as stolen property. Property got returned, I got in no trouble. Story over. What's nice is that implicitly, they were telling me that if it were registered with no legal owner currently or heirs lined up, I would have been able to keep it by paying a $200 tax. The big difference in this case is that the owner was still alive, and that it had been stolen years and years before. I've yet to have any bad experience with the BATFE, and I've dealt with them a few times a year for a while now.