Historic Guns Lost Forever

[Bob Egan]

Noticed the comments on the photo of destroyed Lugers and Broomhandles in the forum.Years ago I was a patrol sgt. in Manhattan withthe NYCPD and wondered what it would be like to work regular hours in HQ. Wound up in charge of selecting firearms for destruction and lasted a few weeks, at times I was literally physically ill with stomachaches, etc at what I saw. Brand new Broomhandles,Lugers,antique Civil War pistols and muskets, even a 1763 Charlieville, all destroyed along with Purdy shot guns,drillings,Colt Frontiers, the list is endless.There is an ivory stocked flintlock in the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is believed to have belonged to Catherine the Great.A cop in the Bronx took it from a junkie in the streetand since the owner never reported it stolen it was slated to be destroyed and was rescued at the last moment by the newly establised police museum curator.I got permission to donate a few historic pieces to the Army, and when my bosses boss had to sign off on the deal he warned my boss that he was causing waves to knock it off.We had a brand new condition WW1 Maxim aircraft machine gun which I offered to the Smithsonian and which they turned down because they already had ONE!Revolutionary,Civil War swords and bayonets,Samurai swords,priceless bowies, all destroyed!Few of these objects were used in crimes, most were turned in by family members or found abandoned in houses and apartments and turned in.

Even destroyed an olympic Hammerli single shot .22 pistol which easily could have been donated to the olympic team.I told my boss that what I was required to do was the equlivant of telling an artist to go into a museum and slash the paintings and smash the statues,I was quickly transferred back to patrol.Even when family members of deceased came to retrieve an antique gun they were usually turned away and if they did not know better, allowed the PDto destroy the gun. In NY the gun control advocates have full control and the mindless and wanton destruction of historic weapons boggles the mind.This is happening today and not in the ancient past so dont ever doubt for a moment that there is a large and powerful group out there obsessed with destroying every firearm that they can, regardless of history,rarity,or even its potential for criminal misuse!In fact, no effort was ever made to notify owners of licensed firearms that their stolen guns were recovered. The attitude was F the owners, destroy the guns, this despite the existance of an alarm with all the necessary info to contact the owners.While this was going on, the VERA Foundation , which is a liberal activist organization, was given a contract to clean stationhouses.Each station house had about a dozen drug addicts assigned to "clean"it and my locker, among many others was broken into and my off duty gun and cash in a "piggy" bank were stolen. These thefts were so common that cops were told that they could not leave their guns in lockers any longer and were subject to discpline if their guns were stolen from their locker.Confused?????????The same people who want to destroy your guns are busily putting stolen guns into the streets!