If I’m in possession of an antique, I’m going to do a little research before I give it away for next to nothing. Someone in Los Angeles wasn’t that smart.

Yes, that appears to be an authentic, World War II-era Sturmgewehr 44, the first-generation assault rifle. It’s worth perhaps $30,000 according to an estimate of the worth of another StG44 collected in a similar buy-back in Connecticut last year, but the LAPD doesn’t appear to have the class the Hartford PD did. Hartford allowed the rifle to be sold to collectors so that it could be preserved as the historical artifact that it is, and give the provider fair-market value.

The indication here?

The LAPD got away with near theft, and unless it is separated for special treatment, this historical artifact will likely be melted down into re-bar. For the children, or something.

Historically, gun buybacks are politically popular but cost thousands to teds of thousands of dollars and do nothing to reduce violent crime.