Armory Sponsor
Posted: 6/9/2006 1:23:25 AM EDT
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I'm very firmilar with current Form 4 for private individuals. But I was wondering about the firearms that were originally brought back during World War II. Was there an Armed Forces form that the GI had to file? Did they then submit a Form 4? I also understand that the GI could register their bring backs for free until the mid to late '50s. I'm interested in the history. If any of you long term Class III guy would be willing to share your experiances and or information about this, I would appreciate it. Thank you for your time. Scott |
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Got time for a little reading? Here goes ... The most difficult part to get your head around is that up until the 1960s, (a) machine guns were not the scary, public-policy issue they are today, and (b) returning veterans were generally seen as upstanding, trustworthy Americans. As far as WWII bringback MGs, there were two types: The undocumented ones smuggled back in duffle bags (or mailed back from the war theaters), and those brought back with paperwork. The WWII War Trophy paperwork was the DD603, a one-sided, half-sheet govt. form that was signed by your commanding officer saying you had permission to bring back items x, y and z, and the same form was used whether you wanted to bring back a single Nazi dagger or, say, three live MP40s and an MG42. It was not easy to get COs to sign off, though, so a lot of GIs just skipped the paperwork. I'll dig around and see if I can find a copy of one to post. A machine gun with War Trophy paperwork was easy to register -- just call up the local IRS office and they would send you the form to fill out. A lot of undocumented bringbacks got registered the same way, as the IRS usually did not ask for or check the War Trophy paperwork. In the late 1940s, '50s and '60s the .gov would periodically put up reminders to vets in the Post Offices, and the IRS would generally accept registrations, up until the passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968. That law included the first (and last) amnesty period for unregistered MGs (both documented and undocumented) in October/November 1968. And that should have been it for WWII bringback MGs: If they were not registered when the '68 amnesty ended, you were outa luck. However.... It is very possible today to still register an MG if it is still in the possession of the original GI or his family, and they still have the War Trophy paperwork. NFA attorneys have succeeded in several cases like this, arguing to BATF that the War Trophy paperwork means that the machine gun was legally owned when it was brought home, and that the War Trophy paperwork is an official government permission to own it. BATF's official stance is that such guns are contraband; when pressed by competent lawyers, though, they have always eventually registered said War Trophies rather than have the cases get to court and perhaps establish new precedent. There is absolutely no way, zero chance, to today register an undocumented live WWII bringback without War Trophy paperwork.  A good read on WWII war trophies and the bringback procedure, with jpegs of typical paperwork, is at www.gunboards.com/sites/banzai/FeatArts/CaptPapers/CapPapers.htm |
| A little extra to add to tony k's post. Many G.I.'s could not afford the $200 to register guns that were brought back without War Trophy or Provost Marshal paperwork. Many of these guns were turned into DEWAT's, on either IRS or ATTU paperwork. Specifically on ATTU stuff a form 6 was used. By the way the ATF subsequently lost alot of this paperwork. |
Armory Sponsor