This rare first edition of Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind” was used to conceal a .32-caliber pistol.

It was found in 1941 by the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona then sent to the FBI for examination.

Firearms examiners compared test bullets and cartridge cases from the gun to similar samples but could not identify the weapon or match it to other evidence.

Published in 1936, this copy of the book resides in the [FBI’S] Laboratory Division’s Reference Firearms Collection in Quantico, Virginia—the gun housed in its 1,037 pages.

https://www.fbi.gov/history/artifacts/gone-with-the-wind

Ian’s video [15:31]:

https://youtu.be/lhy90uT1UtY?si=

  • sramder@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    9 months ago

    Every time I hear “the FBI weapons lab in Quantico, Virginia” I think of that episode of The Simpsons, where Bart picks out the crossbow from the school’s secret the room of confiscated items :-)

    What one item would you fine folks pick if given the chance?

    • AtmaJnana@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 months ago

      If I’m going for pragmatic and boring I’d pick an autoseer.

      But it might be interesting to own one of the bullets they pseudo-scientifically “analyzed” to tie it back to a specific gun.

      Or maybe some DNA evidence used to exonerate the wrongly-convicted.

      • sramder@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        9 months ago

        I was thinking something like Jack Ruby’s pistol… something that changed history.

        • AtmaJnana@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          9 months ago

          I get that. And I did try to play along… But I’m mostly not interested in owning firearms that serve to glorify feds, or politicians, or criminals. Not really favorite groups of people and owning a firearm comes with some baggage to care for and protect each of them lest they harm someone or decay.

          Maybe if MLK or Jimi Hendrix carried a derringer. Or Thurgood Marshall’s shotgun. (No idea whether those are a thing.) But those aren’t likely to be in the crime lab unless involved in a crime amd I also am not interested in having a murder weapon in my house. None of my guns have ever killed anyone (AFAIK) and I’d prefer to keep it that way. Did Harriet Tubman carry a weapon? That would have been illegal but I’d proudly own that.

          Notice the items I chose secondarily are still valuable for their historicity, while revering neither criminals, nor the feds (nor violence, generally.)

          I also like old and weird or otherwise interesting firearms of all sorts. Maybe I lack imagination.

          • sramder@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            9 months ago

            I think the mistake was mine in calling out that specific crime lab… you’re probably right, the only guarantee is that all the guns there have a bit of blood on them —both metaphorically and literally.

            I was definitely thinking more old or weird more than murder-weapon. I half remember an old palm pistol nicknamed the lemon squeezer from a childhood book, looked a bit like the reel that’s attached to a plumb bob and chalk-line with a stubby little barrel intended to stick out between the fingers.

            The other artifact that comes to mind was some kind of weird revolver like shotgun from a tour of some FBI building in Boston, MA. We never got close, they just sort of walked you past a big cage full of guns without fielding any questions.