Wright Museum, Wolfeboro

[ApS]

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

From what I can read here, the guns will be "deactivated." How does that destroy them?

In Government terms, that means welding the actions closed, to never fire again. BATFE (or ATF, BATF) uses the term, "cannot be readily converted". Not surprisingly, Google doesn't recognize the Government's own term "dewat", which means to deactivate the weapon, although I did manage to coax one reference out (and quoted below).

So, all the Wright Museum has to do, is spread their carbon footprint by welding the guns shut, put the guns on display and hope that someone doesn't steal them to retrofit with other guns' parts and bring them to a gun fight.

Had I been a Wright Museum's board member, I'd be afraid of losing much value in the museum's endowment. Their weapons' value in a trade with other museums (or closure) would lose a lot of value.

A Class III dealer tells of a similar situation.

Lastly, I had an experience with getting a gun from a Museum out of California. We arranged a trade. It is nearly impossible to import guns into California. This museum turned out to NOT be a government sponsored entity and therefore couldn't accept the weapon. The gun they received was nearly confiscated and destroyed. After reasoning, pleading, and then begging with ATF, they refused and were going to collect it. In desperation, I made a direct plea to the director of BATFE (now under the US Department of Justice) and was given an exception for the museum to accept the gun. Man, I was sweating it! So it is possible for ATF to be reasonable, but it is easier to simply follow the laws.
http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/sh...t=24161&page=4

Also try www.wwiiguns.com.