He should have kept his mouth shut and kept the damn gun.

Article

If walls could talk, secret of past might be revealed

Published April 17, 2005

LOCKPORT TOWNSHIP -- The house that Andrew Mayes of Lockport recently bought turned out to be a bit like a box of Cracker Jack: It had a surprise inside.

The surprise was secreted behind a wall in a closet Mayes was knocking out while rehabbing the home in the 200 block of Reverend Walton Drive in unincorporated Lockport Township, police said.

There, in an old gunnysack, was a 1928 A1 Thompson submachine gun, a version of the repeating rifle favored by gangsters and G-men alike during the Roaring '20s.

Seven boxes of ammunition were found alongside the "Tommy Gun," which was said to be in pristine condition.

"It's similar, but it's not exactly the same as the gangsters used [in the movies]," said Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas, who noted that police and officials with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will try to trace the gun to an owner.

The find presents intriguing possibilities, Kaupas conceded. Was the house a rural hideout for some of Capone's boys?

Not likely.

"We traced the residents and the house, and there were no known gangsters who lived there," Kaupas said.

But who knows? The guns, precursors to similar weapons used by the military, also could be purchased by civilians for recreational use or protection, Kaupas said.

"We're going to try to trace the weapon through the sales number and see if it goes back to the military," he said.

Another clue as to who owned the gun could come from a receipt that says the ammunition was purchased June 15, 1940, said sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry.

Attempts to reach Mayes, who turned in the weapon Tuesday, were unsuccessful. Kaupas praised Mayes for reporting the find to police.

Barry put the gun's value at about $10,000. But the law limits the ability to sell the gun to a collector or a museum. Kaupas said state law prohibits civilians from owning automatic weapons, and federal law says the gun may have to be destroyed.

The age of the gun also makes tracing it a challenge because information about it is likely contained on paper records.

"Because the gun's so old, a lot of this stuff will have to be hand-checked," Barry said.

For now, the gun will remain in the sheriff's police armory, where a few similar weapons are stored.

Meanwhile, the mystery remains.

"It could have been used for self-protection, but why was it hidden in the wall?" Kaupas wondered.

Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune

Too cool...*grabbs pick axe, starts bashing walls of 74 year old home*

Well, when I ask myself why one would hide a gun, the first thing that comes to mind is, "because you killed somebody with it"!

They shouldn't have to destroy it! (Well, beyond perhaps plugging the barrel so it can't be fired.) If it's in such good condition, it belongs in a museum, and the guy who found it should be allowed to sell it to one. After all, if it was in the house when he bought it, then it arguably belongs to him now.

But first, of course (and BEFORE the gun is destroyed or even plugged) they need to look into old murders and missing persons.

Edit:(I just realized that my contention that they do that before rendering the gun inoperable doesn't make any sense. After all, even if they figure out there was a murder, what are the chances they'll still have a bullet to compare to one from that gun? Dehr! )

What an idiot... I would have kept the gun. I mean it is in HIS home.

Yep. I would have kept the gun. Finders keepers!

Can you imagine what kind of $$ this would bring if it were on eBay?? That guy will be kicking himself real hard in the not too distant future.

How long would you get in the slammer in that county if he was caught with it ,any one know?

hard to say.....it's not registered to him, but he didn't know it was there. He turned it in right away, who knows.....the US has so many loop holes in the legal system it's a wonder anything gets done.

I believe the federal penalty is 10 years for having an unregistered machine gun. There is no loophole. It's either registered or it's not. And they take it very seriously.

Illinois bans them altogether. He could be prosecuted by both the feds and the states.

So remember the 11th commandment: Thou shalt not get caught.

be unfair if he gets the rap.

the fact that he reported it right away will let him beat the rap but i dont think he should of reported it. like was said above it would have been better to keep it (thats what i would do( or sell it