Knimrod
04-02-2006, 10:58 PM
Case of the missing relic handgun http://www.cadillacnews.com/content/articles/2006/04/01/news/news03.jpg
April 2, 2006
By Sally Barber
Cadillac News
TUSTIN - Pine River Historical Museum is trying to unravel a mystery. They want to know who took an antique revolver from the museum. Most of all, they want it back.
The effort to unravel the puzzle and return the weapon has so far involved the museum, the Osceola County Sheriff's Department, two United States Postal Services divisions, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Museum workers discovered the antique firearm's disappearance after being notified by the Postal Service.
“Last year we got a letter saying someone had wrapped a gun in a brown wrapper addressed to the museum in Tustin,” said Peggy Rutherford, Pine River Area Historical Society president.
Written on the envelope were the words “Darn those kids,” she said.
“They (postal service personnel) figured kids picked it up and the parents didn't know,” she said.
Based on communications with the Grand Rapids Postal Service, museum workers became convinced the gun belongs to their collection.
Found Aug. 29 by postal workers in Grand Rapids in an envelope without postage or a return address, the case was transferred to a forfeiture specialist at the Inspection Service Detroit Division. Postal authorities from the division told Rutherford in a letter dated March 21 that to return the weapon regulations require the firearm's serial number or other solid evidence substantiating the claim it is museum property.
“We can't prove the ownership, but the gun was addressed to us and we have a gun missing,” Rutherford said.
The absent firearm had hung from a hook at about three feet above floor level. It was without anchors or connection to the alarm system that secures the other 20 guns in the museum's collection. Securing the revolver had been on the volunteer staff's “to-do” list, she said. The museum will continue to seek the gun's return.
Fred Van de Putte, postal inspector for the Postal Inspection Service Detroit Division, the law enforcement arm of the mail service, said the agency would be happy to return the relic, but ownership needs to be confirmed.
Due to the circumstances of the gun's discovery, it was labeled “abandoned property,” according to Van de Putte.
“This is an unusual case,” he said. “If it were a wallet with a driver's license in it, or a set of tagged keys, it would have been returned. The fact that it's an unregistered firearm adds a little twist.”
“We have reason to believe it belongs to them (Pine River Historical Museum) and we have gone through the legal steps for abandoned property,” he said. “We're still trying to see if there are legal steps we can take to return it.”
In attempts to define legalities, Van de Putte consulted ATF authorities.
“ATF does not have any specific prohibitions against our returning that weapon as long as it is not an otherwise prohibited weapon,” he said.
Van de Putte's next move in resolving the matter will be to question the Michigan State Police.
“The bureaucratic wheels are turning and we're going to make sure all the bureaucracies are happy,” he said.
If it is determined the Postal Service is legally unable to return the gun to the museum, it would be destroyed, he said.
The missing firearm was neither inventoried by the museum nor registered. Rutherford said museum staff was unaware of gun registration rules applying to antique and relic firearms. They now intend to inventory, photograph and register the collection.
Wexford County Sheriff Gary Finstrom said specific registration rules and exemptions apply to antique guns or those considered relics or curios.
“It depends on the type of weapon and whether it is classified as a historic weapon or whether they have disabled it so it is not fireable,” Finstrom said.
Antique pistols made before 1898 and replicas of antiques that use black powder, matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap or similar type of ignition system does not need to be registered, according to the Michigan State Police.
Manton Veterans Museum, opened last June, has a firearm collection of consisting hand guns and long rifles dating back to the Civil War, said Neil Perry, a member of the VFW local post and the city museum board.
“The trouble is if they (guns) came back from the wars, like many did, they weren't registered,” he said “It might have been a German or Japanese gun.”
The Manton museum's firearm collection was developed through donations and loans. All are individually locked and sit in locked cases, inventoried by serial number, caliber, manufacturer and owner or donor. Additionally, the collection is protected by security alarms.
“They are not registered and some are still operable,” Perry said. “We have wondered if we should register them, but we don't want to plug guns not belonging to us.”
Manton Veterans Museum has submitted a request to the ATF for approval to hold and display an additional collection of nationally historic guns. If they are approved, Perry said the museum would comply with whatever rules apply.
Operators of the Marion, Luther and Reed City historical museums have not had to wrestle with the process of documenting antique weapons. They report they exclude firearms from their collections.
Paul Roggow, president of Reed City's Old Rugged Cross Museum, said it has been their long-standing policy to ban firearms. Insurance on historic collections is generally too costly for small museums to purchase and theft is always a concern.
“Most museums are very trusting,” he said. “But it takes a lot of vigilance by the volunteers.”
Link to story (http://www.cadillacnews.com/articles/2006/04/01/news/news03.txt)
April 2, 2006
By Sally Barber
Cadillac News
TUSTIN - Pine River Historical Museum is trying to unravel a mystery. They want to know who took an antique revolver from the museum. Most of all, they want it back.
The effort to unravel the puzzle and return the weapon has so far involved the museum, the Osceola County Sheriff's Department, two United States Postal Services divisions, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Museum workers discovered the antique firearm's disappearance after being notified by the Postal Service.
“Last year we got a letter saying someone had wrapped a gun in a brown wrapper addressed to the museum in Tustin,” said Peggy Rutherford, Pine River Area Historical Society president.
Written on the envelope were the words “Darn those kids,” she said.
“They (postal service personnel) figured kids picked it up and the parents didn't know,” she said.
Based on communications with the Grand Rapids Postal Service, museum workers became convinced the gun belongs to their collection.
Found Aug. 29 by postal workers in Grand Rapids in an envelope without postage or a return address, the case was transferred to a forfeiture specialist at the Inspection Service Detroit Division. Postal authorities from the division told Rutherford in a letter dated March 21 that to return the weapon regulations require the firearm's serial number or other solid evidence substantiating the claim it is museum property.
“We can't prove the ownership, but the gun was addressed to us and we have a gun missing,” Rutherford said.
The absent firearm had hung from a hook at about three feet above floor level. It was without anchors or connection to the alarm system that secures the other 20 guns in the museum's collection. Securing the revolver had been on the volunteer staff's “to-do” list, she said. The museum will continue to seek the gun's return.
Fred Van de Putte, postal inspector for the Postal Inspection Service Detroit Division, the law enforcement arm of the mail service, said the agency would be happy to return the relic, but ownership needs to be confirmed.
Due to the circumstances of the gun's discovery, it was labeled “abandoned property,” according to Van de Putte.
“This is an unusual case,” he said. “If it were a wallet with a driver's license in it, or a set of tagged keys, it would have been returned. The fact that it's an unregistered firearm adds a little twist.”
“We have reason to believe it belongs to them (Pine River Historical Museum) and we have gone through the legal steps for abandoned property,” he said. “We're still trying to see if there are legal steps we can take to return it.”
In attempts to define legalities, Van de Putte consulted ATF authorities.
“ATF does not have any specific prohibitions against our returning that weapon as long as it is not an otherwise prohibited weapon,” he said.
Van de Putte's next move in resolving the matter will be to question the Michigan State Police.
“The bureaucratic wheels are turning and we're going to make sure all the bureaucracies are happy,” he said.
If it is determined the Postal Service is legally unable to return the gun to the museum, it would be destroyed, he said.
The missing firearm was neither inventoried by the museum nor registered. Rutherford said museum staff was unaware of gun registration rules applying to antique and relic firearms. They now intend to inventory, photograph and register the collection.
Wexford County Sheriff Gary Finstrom said specific registration rules and exemptions apply to antique guns or those considered relics or curios.
“It depends on the type of weapon and whether it is classified as a historic weapon or whether they have disabled it so it is not fireable,” Finstrom said.
Antique pistols made before 1898 and replicas of antiques that use black powder, matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap or similar type of ignition system does not need to be registered, according to the Michigan State Police.
Manton Veterans Museum, opened last June, has a firearm collection of consisting hand guns and long rifles dating back to the Civil War, said Neil Perry, a member of the VFW local post and the city museum board.
“The trouble is if they (guns) came back from the wars, like many did, they weren't registered,” he said “It might have been a German or Japanese gun.”
The Manton museum's firearm collection was developed through donations and loans. All are individually locked and sit in locked cases, inventoried by serial number, caliber, manufacturer and owner or donor. Additionally, the collection is protected by security alarms.
“They are not registered and some are still operable,” Perry said. “We have wondered if we should register them, but we don't want to plug guns not belonging to us.”
Manton Veterans Museum has submitted a request to the ATF for approval to hold and display an additional collection of nationally historic guns. If they are approved, Perry said the museum would comply with whatever rules apply.
Operators of the Marion, Luther and Reed City historical museums have not had to wrestle with the process of documenting antique weapons. They report they exclude firearms from their collections.
Paul Roggow, president of Reed City's Old Rugged Cross Museum, said it has been their long-standing policy to ban firearms. Insurance on historic collections is generally too costly for small museums to purchase and theft is always a concern.
“Most museums are very trusting,” he said. “But it takes a lot of vigilance by the volunteers.”
Link to story (http://www.cadillacnews.com/articles/2006/04/01/news/news03.txt)