WWII Weapons to be destroyed

[BEAST]

Funny thing about some of the weapons in the Norwegian article is that many of those weapons were still in use by the Norsk military in the 1980s. I was a student at the University of Oslo in 1984 and had a chance to observe an Army training unit (IO 1, IIRC). The officer of the day carried a German Lugar overstamped with Norwegian markings, the Homeguard was just turning in their Mausers for AG-3s and the Air Force security forces still carried Schmeissers.

[davejb]

Whilst serving in the British police force we sometimes had amnestys for weapons and it used to break my heart when i was on the front desk and some brought a historic weapon in. I once had a guy who handed over a Thompson smg with drum magazine no questions asked also a chap came in with a long cardboard box and inside was an AK 47 with two magazines fully loaded the gun was still in its grease proof wrapping and a russian inspectors certificate. But that was the guns dont forget the hundreds of third reich edged weapons handed in and i used to hold these with near tears in my eyes knowing that these were all going to HQ to be sent on for destruction but i bet a pound to a pinch of crap that some of these never made it to the furnace !!!

[AllanT]

Destoying weapons like that is almost unbareable. If you only knew what we destroyed in Kosovo just in my time there in 2001. A LOT of WW2 stuff!
When ever there is an amnesty the guns that are handed over are old relics, because the newer weapons are kept secret for, shall we say, later use?
When we disarmed an insurgent group in the Kosovo/Serbia area they handed in only 5(!) AK 47s. The rest was old, rusty WW2 weapons.

Great post though and thanks for sharing.

[Jager1945]

UPDATE Sgt. York, German WWI Maxim Machine Gun:
the last local newspaper report stated that the Maxim was going to a museum in New York. Just wanted to update you folks and let you all know that sometimes common sense prevails and the good guys do win some!

Cheers,

Jager1945

[AllanT]

Funny thing about some of the weapons in the Norwegian article is that many of those weapons were still in use by the Norsk military in the 1980s. I was a student at the University of Oslo in 1984 and had a chance to observe an Army training unit (IO 1, IIRC). The officer of the day carried a German Lugar overstamped with Norwegian markings, the Homeguard was just turning in their Mausers for AG-3s and the Air Force security forces still carried Schmeissers.

Same in Denmark. When I was in basic training in RDAF in 1994 we trained on M1 Garand and MG42 (post war variant). We still use the M/49 Neuhausen (SigSauer) as the standard sidearm!

[sitges1990]

In the mid to late 1990's, the Brady anti-gun group, got gun buy backs started in the larger cities in the United States. The Federal Government along with several anti gun groups collected thousands of dollars for the buy back. They then had mass media advertisements, telling people they needed to get these dangerous guns out of their houses.

They then coordinated with the police departments, to have drive thru places for people to turn their guns in. Depending on the gun, the people were paid between $25 and $150 for their guns. It sickened me to see the guns that were turned in. We had 55 gallon barrells full of thousand of guns. People from the Brady group were there to make sure the police did not try to talk people out of turning in their guns. Alot of the guns were turned in by elderly women, who's husbands had died. Just as this listed article, the guns were then melted down. Mint M-1's, P-38s, Lugars, you name it there were destroyed. They paid these old ladies $150 for guns that were worth thousands. The poor old ladies had no idea what the value of the guns were. Our tax dollars at work. I must add, again, that here in the U.S., 99% of the cops think every decent law abiding citizen should be able to own and carry a gun.

Jay

[dave34]

Yet another example of another fine piece destroyed by strict laws

Ægte deaktiveret Thompson maskinpistol 1928 A1 til salg på QXL.dk

[dave34]

700$ + p&p

[sovblocgunfan]

In the mid to late 1990's, the Brady anti-gun group, got gun buy backs started in the larger cities in the United States. The Federal Government along with several anti gun groups collected thousands of dollars for the buy back. They then had mass media advertisements, telling people they needed to get these dangerous guns out of their houses.

They then coordinated with the police departments, to have drive thru places for people to turn their guns in. Depending on the gun, the people were paid between $25 and $150 for their guns. It sickened me to see the guns that were turned in. We had 55 gallon barrells full of thousand of guns. People from the Brady group were there to make sure the police did not try to talk people out of turning in their guns. Alot of the guns were turned in by elderly women, who's husbands had died. Just as this listed article, the guns were then melted down. Mint M-1's, P-38s, Lugars, you name it there were destroyed. They paid these old ladies $150 for guns that were worth thousands. The poor old ladies had no idea what the value of the guns were. Our tax dollars at work. I must add, again, that here in the U.S., 99% of the cops think every decent law abiding citizen should be able to own and carry a gun.

Jay

The followup good news to this is that I know of at least two documented instances where individual collectors were, with police knowledge, successful in buying some of these guns before they were given to the police. The owners were in both cases paid more than what the police were offering, but not by much!

[sitges1990]

That would be super. Let the collectors pay what the guns are worth and then give it to charity. It sucked to be melting down guns that were worth 2 or 3 thousand dollars.

Jay