U.S.A. -(Ammoland.com)- -Some interesting items turned up at the Baltimore gun “buy back”. “Buy back” is an Orwellian propaganda term. You cannot “buy back things you never owned. At the event, someone turned in an expended AT4 trainer. From saab.com:
All AT4 weapons are single shot and fully disposable. You simply aim, fire, destroy the target and discard the empty tube. Furthermore, the AT4 family has proven itself to be a highly reliable, robust and durable weapon system that has been extensively proven in combat. Its key characteristics include high target effect and hit probability – creating a high target kill probability for each fired weapon.
The gold or yellow band on the tube indicate it is a trainer and not an actual AT4. The lack of a cover on the front end shows it has been expended. Used trainer tubes are inert.
They are not illegal to own, because they are inert, and cannot be reloaded. You can buy them over the Internet for $250. The price is that high because airsoft enthusiasts love them.
With a lot of work and machining, they can be made into a very clumsy 9 mm single shot. It is essentially a collector’s item or a toy.
Vice claims the Baltimore police paid $500 for it, but no one has been able to confirm that.
The police did pay $500 for what looks to be a WWII bring-back, a Sten submachine gun. It is shown alongside the expended AT4 trainer tube.
The wooden pistol grip on the pictured item was used on some Sten guns and there were wooden foregrips made for Sten guns. There were many variations of the Sten.
My source at the “buyback” specifically said he saw an unusual gun at the event. When he inquired further, it was a submachinegun with “Lanchester” on it.
It is hard to believe the police would miss a photo-opportunity of two submachineguns turned in at the same event. But most Lanchester’s had brass magazine wells and wooden stocks.
My source did not know what a Lanchester was until they saw the name on the unusual gun, and looked it up on the Internet. It seems unlikely he misidentified the gun.
“Steve”, verified the gun was the same as the Lanchester pictured above, although the stock was not in as good of shape as that in the picture. Photo from Rock Island Auction:
The Lanchester was considered one of the better sub-guns of World War II. It was mostly a copy of the Bergman MP 28.
Lanchester submachineguns that are legally registered in the United States bring $3,000 to $4,000 and up. Rarer versions of the Lanchester go for $16,000 and more. This one will be turned into scrap.
It is long past time for another amnesty for National Firearms Act items. The act was never meant to prevent legal ownership. The 1986 amendment twisted the act to that purpose and has contorted the market in bizarre ways.
The Trump administration is the best chance for an NFA amnesty in many years.
In 1968, there was an expectation amnesty would be a common, regular occurrence to bring unregistered NFA items into the legal fold.
No Amnesty has been announced in the last fifty years. With the current ruling by the BATFE that “bump stocks” are NFA items, all existing “bump stocks” should be included in an amnesty.
The Secretary of the Treasury should declare a 90-day amnesty for the registration of all NFA items. As a backup, because the BATFE has been transferred to the Department of Justice, the Attorney General should be ready with a duplicate declaration.
Partial amnesties have been pushed in Congress in recent years, for the purpose of registering war trophies brought home by returning veterans.
Bump stocks present a logical and compelling reason for an NFA amnesty.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
A rare WW2 sub gun? Wow! Bet somebody on the Baltimore pd will be taking it home, just for good reason. How can the city buy guns when they dont have an FFL? Are they exempt from Federal laws? So called city gun buyback are a joke. Just a publicity stunt for the mayors office. So all the street gangs, drug dealers (and you know these politicians all serve cocaine at their parties), and Islamic terrorists turned in their guns!
As to the purpose of the Baltimore buy-back, it would be extremely illuminating to see some statistics on violent, gun-involved crime before and after the buy-back window. Let’s see some actual facts supporting, or refuting, the usefulness of these expenditures. My bias: There won’t be any significant difference in this category of crime statistics. I wonder how that would get spun by the infamous Baltimore city government? I have no doubt they will, to prove a point, whether valid or not, because it is the Narrative they seek to make valid, not necessarily the truth.
BATF will not call for an amnesty. Moreover as far as the NFA is concerned, it should be repealed along with the GCA and the NFA portion of FOPA. The surrender monkeys at NRA stood down, rather than fighting for gun rights, as they ALWAYS do. Gun owners need to ditch the NRA (Negotiating Rights Away) and join GOA. Especially with all the gun control planned at both the federal and state levels!!