----- Original Message -----Sent: 10/8/01 4:23:32 PMSubject: Re: [MV] Sme demilled weaopnry.Howard, Would you please forward this to the general Mil-veh list? I have AOL and haven't figured how to convert my posts so that the Mil list accepts it.
Thanks
Jim Burrill
Ron,
Although his reply is a bit enthusiastic, As a fellow armor owner, the same rational applies to us as is does a jeep jockey with a Garand in the rifle rack: We aren't using it for illegal purposes.
If you are aware, you know BATF already has extremely stringent registration provisions for owning Class I destructive weapons, their import and sale.
I use my vehicles at living history displays and reenactments. If your 'Thing" is Arty or Armor, having the clear ability to obtain the proper caliber shell casing, loading it as a blank round, and getting to perform the authentic drill of loading it and handling the case is a part of the pleasure we take from the hobby.
I am most emphatically N! OT apart of the "every jeep has to have a .50 on it" crowd. But as a historian, collecting, restoring and displaying to as close to MVPA standards as I can get as "Factory ready" includes going through all the paperwork to legally own a functional tube in our "Heavy Metal" HMVs.
You may or may not be a reenactor. You may or may not dress up as a 1:1 "scale driver accessory" for your HMV at a display. Whether you do or not, or can really understand or agree with, or not, an HMV owner who does dress the part, have weapons (all legal so far) and fire blanks at a battle reenactment, I hope you do appreciate that the HMV community needs to support the legal ownership of all aspects of our hobby. That means the ability of someone to own an M-35 that he also uses with his construction job, or someone who has lovingly restored a half century old Sherman tank.
And from personal experience, from reenacting the Revolutionary war, War of 1812, The American Civil War,! WWI or WWII, the crowd of civilian spectators always look forward to hearing the "big guns" go off. In fact, most east coast state tourism boards, park art departments, etc, use photos or graphics of field guns in their advertising or billboard signs. Hell, Look at Colonial Williamsburg. Most of their promo pictures use an artillery crew in the pics.
It doesn't really matter what the gun uses for powder, or type of breech or projectile. The concept of simply owning a "cannon", legally, for historical purposes is the issue.
Cheers,
Jim
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