Irwin may sell vintage machine gun to raise funds

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | Monday, January 20, 2003 | Patti Dobranski

[Willie Green]

The sale of a 75-year-old Thompson automatic machine gun may be part of Irwin Council's plan to do a little housecleaning and to raise funds for the borough police department.

Council members also want to sell sidearms dating to the 1970s that no longer are used by officers. According to Police Chief John Karasek, the department owns .357-caliber Magnum pieces, a Colt .45-caliber revolver and some .38-caliber revolvers handguns that are antiquated by today's weapon standards because of the smaller number of rounds.

[Ford Fairlane]

The model 1928 was the most popular & best selling model made by colt.

It was manufactured by modifying existing model 1921's from a 800 rpm cyclic rate to 600 rpm

It was designed for the Navy, and were stamped US Navy Model of 1928, but most were actually sold commercially.

[Blood of Tyrants]

"The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raised questions about the borough's ability to sell the [Thompson}, Karasek said."

Unless someone legally registered it as a machine gun prior to 1986 and has the papwerwork to prove it, it is so much scrap metal and CANNOT be sold to a private collector.

[John R. (Bob) Locke]

The weapons typically cost about $800 each, the chief said, so the sale of the vintage "tommy gun" theoretically could pay for several new weapons.

These guys are getting taken to the cleaners if they're cops and are paying $800 for a duty sidearm.

Wonder what they're buying...?