N.C. Sheriff Plans to Sell Vintage Tommy Guns to Buy Rifles

Chief Deputy Brad Stanley of the Forsyth County (N.C.) Sheriff’s Office presented a proposal to the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners last Thursday to sell the agency’s two 1928 Thompson submachine guns and drum magazines and buy 88 new Bushmaster rifles.

The Tommy guns were reportedly a gift from the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and are reportedly valued at about $60,000.

"We're able to take two firearms that have no current applicable use to the sheriff's office and exchange those for 88 rifles that will be deployed to officers on the street who don’t have them today, at no cost to the county," Stanley told the Winston-Salem Journal .

The best scenario is that each officer is equipped with a long gun, a sidearm, and a TASER, Stanley said.

"We want to provide our officers with the best equipment and the means to protect themselves. Heaven forbid we have to use any of them," he said.