Huge Arsenal of Tommy Guns Set for Auction in St. Louis

It is an iconic American firearm design — the Thompson submachine gun, or “Tommy Gun”. Here’s your chance to add the real thing to your firearms collection. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLPD) plans to auction off twenty-nine (29) historic Tommy Guns. These 1920s-era .45-caliber weapons have been stored in a vault for decades. The SLPD is selling the highly-collectible submachine guns to raise money for new service pistols for its officers. The auction will take place later this year, but no exact auction date has yet been set.

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The Tommy guns are expected to fetch from $15,000 to $40,000 each, putting a estimated value of the whole collection at as much as $1,000,000. According to the Washington Times: “The collection was appraised by a local dealer in 2012 at $770,000, but police and some collectors believe it could sell for much more. The collection includes rare 1921 and 1927 Colts and a model made in 1942.”

SLPD chief Sam Dotson stated: “We’re told [that] outside of the military and federal government we have the largest cache of Thompson machine guns.”

Because these are fully-automatic “Class III” weapons, subject to the National Firearms Act (NFA), purchasers much fill out the proper paperwork, pass background checks, and obtain a Federal Tax stamp for each Tommy gun purchased. The SLPD expects the majority of the firearms will be purchased by wealthy collectors or museums.