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1929 M1?


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Ok I will TRY to paraphrase my phone conversation.

 

I get a phone call received by my girlfriend about an 1929 M1 available, said to be 95% and six digit serial #.

I am not in the market for a M1 but thought what the heck I will call back.

 

So I call

 

Me: Hi I am Michael S.... calling about the Thompson.

Seller: yeah it's a 1929 M1 95% with low six-digit serial #

 

Me: Yeah I do not know much about the military Thompsons so I am unsure if M1's were made in 1929.

Seller: I did some research and the M1 earliest production was around then

 

Me: Ok I do not know but I am in the market for a Colt Thompson not a M1

Seller: It is a really nice gun. I got it off this guy in a business deal and he got it directly from the factory and NEVER registered it (gag)

 

Me: Well you have to understand that it needs to have been registered to legally sell

Seller: Duh?

Me: Frankly I doubt this was never registered

Seller: Again I got it in a business deal how much do you think this would be worth?

Me: Guess if it were a legally registered gun $10K on up. Would you like me to email you some websites to check value?

Seller: I live in way northern California and there is not electricity here so no computers, did I tell you I got it for $200

Me: gag cough Hmmm No. California I hope you do not have it there.

Seller: Uh uh it is in Montana

Me: That's better Also if it is not registered you can certainly recover your money selling it as a parts kit. You need to determine if it is registered as I find it hard to believe it is not registered.

Seller: I have a brother in law that is an FFL in Montana

Me: You need to have him help you determine if it is legal

 

This goes on for a bit more

 

At this point I can not get off the phone fast enough

 

Then I check his phone # on reverse phone search. It is a mobile phone in Northern California, hmm wonder how many solar cells this guy uses to charge his phone.

 

 

Never thought I would be making a call that I now feel was ATF, but I now wonder if that was them or not.

 

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Mike, you did the right thing. I had a similar incident resently about a WH that a guy said he got it in a estate sale here in state. But he got no papers on it. He only wanted his money back out of it, $2500, I told him that without papers, he had a very illegal gun. he then said he bought it from a guy that bought it from the estate. I told him that he needs to contact the BATF and tell them papers have been destroyed or lost on it, and get it registered, if he had it at all. If he gets papers, I'll buy it, but not to call me back unless he has them.
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Most of the ATF agents i have encountered are too busy or too dumb to try this kind of entrapment...

They want the 'big fish' to fry, and make a name for themselves in the agency and move up in the federal bureacracy and retire in 20 years ...

For my 2 cents worth it is just a scam artist trying to steal your money and these scumbags know you have no recourse, since you cannot report to police or law enforcement you were trying to buy an illegal weapon...

After finding out the hard way thru ebay that these sort of intrastate crimes are not punishable...only local or in-state violations are looked at by various local or state police agencies, never across state borders...the FBI told me they have no staff (resources) to investigate this type of minor crime.

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QUOTE (normandy123 @ Jun 22 2004, 06:10 PM)
Most of the ATF agents i have encountered are too busy or too dumb to try this kind of entrapment...
They want the 'big fish' to fry, and make a name for themselves in the agency and move up in the federal bureacracy and retire in 20 years ...
For my 2 cents worth it is just a scam artist trying to steal your money and these scumbags know you have no recourse, since you cannot report to police or law enforcement you were trying to buy an illegal weapon...
After finding out the hard way thru ebay that these sort of intrastate crimes are not punishable...only local or in-state violations are looked at by various local or state police agencies, never across state borders...the FBI told me they have no staff (resources) to investigate this type of minor crime.

normandy123,

 

Email sent......

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In my 12 years with the bureau, I have seen some truly stupid stuff. If this is an agent, someone should slap him back to basic and teach him to have his facts straight if he is going to cold call someone. However, I do take offense to the statement regarding an agent's dumbness. We have our share of oddballs but 99% of us are hard working folks who try to do a good job by putting away turds and peckerheads that break the law and need 24 hour supervision. We, as agents, all want to have big cases that gets some recognition. That's human nature. You are most correct about being too busy. We are always trying to do more with less. To label all of us as dumb is unfair. Normandy, take a walk in my shoes and then you might be worthy of making such a statement.

 

If this sounds harsh, I appologise to the board.

 

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Normandy123,

I too think your statement was unfair. We play with machine guns; TMAN does machine guns for a living...along with bombs, arson, dope, motorcycle gangs and a lot more that you do not even want to know about. I think we are very lucky to have someone like TMAN on the board. He makes intelligent posts, does not hide his name or what he does for a living and has helped out some of the board members with the government bureaucracy. He would be the first place I would turn if I had a question concerning the BATFE.

 

Thanks TMAN - no apology needed.

 

Tom

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I think the seller is just con-artist, and has nothing to do with any law enforcement agency.

 

 

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