War Trophy Bill
HR 2088 is a bill which would allow WWII vets and their heirs to possess certain war trophies and DEWATs (deactivated war trophies).
What prompts the legislation is that during WWII, commanders were authorizing soldiers to own and take home war trophy guns, including machineguns. Many of the vets didn’t realize that such a written authorization doesn’t get them around the National Firearms Act; they weren’t lawyers, were in war, and had a letter from their commander authorizing them to take the gun home, and figured that covered it. As a result, there are a considerable but unknown number of MGs out there where the owner thinks everything is legal, and it isn’t.
If this bill has legs, I’ll predict a sudden increase in sales of parts kits for older military rifles.
October 19th, 2005 at 12:54 pm
Let’s HOPE there are a zillion of them out there. I don’t think so at this point. Most of these folks have died or disposed of them.
Too bad contemporary soldiers can’t bring a pistol or semi-auto rifle back, or even a full-auto. They certainly deserve it, and its the MORAL thing to to.
October 19th, 2005 at 6:04 pm
Robert: Well, the original owner having died usually just means their kids or whatever relative wanted “dad’s old war trophy” now has the gun.
It’s not like those things dissolve when their owner dies, like weapons in a computer game.
Though in a way, that would be kinda cool. (Though in others, very much not cool. The world needs more extant MP-44s, not fewer!)
October 19th, 2005 at 7:27 pm
I predict a rip roaring trade in “discovering” documents to verify that a lot of weapons are war trophies. In fact, I might even make document research into a cottage industry myself.
October 19th, 2005 at 8:20 pm
The REAL bill would abolish the ATFU and repeal all Federal Firearm laws.
October 19th, 2005 at 9:51 pm
Well, how about we start with a bill to repeal the Hughes Amendment, accompanied by a bill that directs the DoD to allow soldiers to bring one individual weapon (no crew serveds) of any type, in any condition, home as a war trophy.