Sale of the Century: St. Louis Police Announce Sale of Vintage Tommy Guns
Posted at 2:52 pm on May 30, 2017 by Beth Baumann

Christian Gooden St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Christian Gooden, St. Louis Post-Dispatch


The St. Louis Police Department is selling 27 Thompson submachine guns, some of which date back to the 1920s. The Thompson submachine guns, known as Tommy guns, were decommissioned by the police department in the 1950s and have been stored in the police academy’s basement ever since. During the 1920s and early 30s, the Tommy gun was the weapon of choice for the gangsters. Down the road, the FBI eventually carried the firearms.

Money raised from the vintage firearms’ sale will be used to help purchase a handful of AR-15s and 1,525 new 9mm Beretta handguns. In 2014, the department’s collection was appraised at $777,000.

The funds from these 27 firearms will cover the first shipment of firearms, which are expected to arrive in August. The second shipment will be paid for by selling the Beretta handguns and other firearms the department is currently using.

“The original reason to sell the weapons was to purchase new duty weapons, and we did so well on the sale, we will be able to purchase rifles as well, by our own actions without using any budget money,” Carol Shepard, the police department’s purchasing procurement manager, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “That was the most important thing for us. We made our own money to take care of our own problem.”

Midwest Distributors is purchasing each of the 27 Tommy guns for $22,000 apiece, for a total of $618,500. Bill Hicks & Co. is purchasing 1,748 Beretta handguns for $221 apiece, for a total of around $597,000.

The St. Louis Police Department is keeping two of the Tommy guns to display in their crime lab.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/l...11-cdd498cf8ecd.html

I wonder how this would fly in Atlanta with their recent gun buyback. Maybe if they advertised them as Chicago typewriters?

"Decommissioned?" Do they still go pew? Pew pew pew pew pew pew pew? $22,000 each I would have to guess the latter. If I moved back to St. Louis I would most certainly sleep better with a full auto Tommy gun.

"I believe ya, BUT MY TOMMY GUN DON'T!"

Bring a pocket full of money.

Which Beretta pistols are they getting?

Tommy guns are overrated.
Cocking knob is miniscule and they are HEAVY.

Also, this chaps me as a former STL citizen. The sale of these years ago could have financed more officers. STL needs more boots on the ground, not more AR15s. Every car already had a 9mm carbine in them already. You don't hear stories of underarmed officers losing shootouts in STL, you hear cries of not enough officers in the right place. I could be wrong, but if you ask an officer which he would rather have, an AR or backup, I'm guessing he would rather have backup.

The 9mm carbine is nothing more than a shoulder fired pistol. I'm sure officers probably wouldn't want one or the other. Likely a mixture of both.

It is also possible that the sales from the guns could only be used to buy weapons/armor/equipment. It is the way that it is here.

quote:

Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:
Also, this chaps me as a former STL citizen. The sale of these years ago could have financed more officers. STL needs more boots on the ground, not more AR15s. Every car already had a 9mm carbine in them already. You don't hear stories of underarmed officers losing shootouts in STL, you hear cries of not enough officers in the right place. I could be wrong, but if you ask an officer which he would rather have, an AR or backup, I'm guessing he would rather have backup.

Assuming 50k year in salary plus benefits and equipment, that cash would pay for less than 10 officers for 1 year with no way to fund them next year.

A pre-war Thompson gun is as cool as it gets. There are other sub-guns that are better, but none are a beautiful or as cool.

quote:

Originally posted by JDSigManiac:


Assuming 50k year in salary plus benefits and equipment, that cash would pay for less than 10 officers for 1 year with no way to fund them next year.

I hear ya. Maybe more overtime? I don't know. I just don't get them sitting on them all these years. Kudos to them doing something about them now. I am impressed they and their service pieces weren't Captain Crunch'ed to "keep guns off the streets."

$22K each? They must be fully transferable, and WORKING (not decommissioned) machine guns.

If they are wall hangers, they would bring $500.

If they are LEO only, non transferable, they are worth, what, maybe a grand?

They are transferrable.

It appears that they also have a pair of Lewis machine guns, which they are not selling. (It's not clear in the article I've read whether the Lewis guns are transferrable.)

Here are a couple photos of some of their Thompsons and one of their Lewis guns.

quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:
$22K each? They must be fully transferable, and WORKING (not decommissioned) machine guns.

If they are wall hangers, they would bring $500.

If they are LEO only, non transferable, they are worth, what, maybe a grand?

Ya 22k is a lot of money. But they are antiques! Historical!

quote:

Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:
Also, this chaps me as a former STL citizen. The sale of these years ago could have financed more officers.

I hate to break it to you, but the $618K for those Thompsons would not have covered the cost of even one cop for a 20 year career. Hell, it wouldn't even cover one cop for 10 years.

If you're inclined to look at the salary of a cop in STL, and then tell me I'm wrong, keep in mind there are a lot more costs associated with employing one person than just their salary.

I like the episode of The Untouchables. Dude walked into a Chicago area drug store and wanted to buy the .45ACP pistol in the window. Clerk asks for pistol permit but he don't have one. Clerk proceeds to sell him a Tommy Gun instead.

Many years ago, I had the chance to shoot an original Thompson.
I have lusted since that day for one. My number one grail gun.
22K.....

quote:

Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:

"I believe ya, BUT MY TOMMY GUN DON'T!"

Home Alone

The Tommy guns look to be in very good shape! Wish they were $2200 and not $22K.

Since I broke my moratorium on posting, I will place hold this for thoughts....

This is not the first time this was tried... and not the first time they tried to get ARs. And they NEED them.