Crabtree attributes gun accidents to ignorance and carelessness. The anonymous gun buy-back program is aimed at preventing people from running into potentially dangerous situations with a gun they don’t know how to use or work.
This seems to be the reason the woman who dropped off the historic rifle.
“Her father passed away. The gun was in her closet,” Cavanna said. “She did not know it was a machine gun.
“If the gun had been in the closet loaded, any second you could hit the wrong level and discharge a fatal round,” he said of the Sturmgewehr 44.
This German-made machine gun can fire 500 rounds in minutes, according to Cavanna, who is also a gun range master.
At the time the officers received the gun, it was in such disrepair that it was inoperable, unable to shoot a bullet even if the gun had been loaded. Cavanna said ammunition would have to be especially made for this gun.
The unnamed owner of the gun has left the valuable artifact at the police station for safe keeping.
“We did not take the gun in for the gun buy-back program,” Crabtree said. “If we took it as part of the buy-back, we would have no choice but to destroy the gun. We don’t want to destroy that gun.”
The owner intends to sell the Sturmgewehr 44.
“It sounds like her family could use the money,” Cavanna said
Article Appeared @http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/valuable-wwii-gun-police-buy-back-022155231–abc-news-topstories.html