Quote from denfoote...
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought is was illegal for the President to keep things like this!! Not just because it's a gun, but anything! That gun belongs to the American People and should be on display in the NRA museum, not in Bush's private firearms collection!! That's profiteering!!
Another thing.
Is GB above the law?? It's illegal for him to possess such a weapon in DC!!!"
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Wow, how many places did this go wrong? As noted, the President is CIC. With that and depending on interpretation, he is technically military and the laws do not pertain to police or military folks in the line of duty.
I don't know, but the President may also qualify in some legal form to be in possession of a handgun as part of his duty of office.
Also, there are others who have handguns in DC. For example, the Smithsonian.
The only potential line of reasoning I could come up with for the President to be in violation of some sort of laws would be the provisions against taking spoils of war. Outside of the gun being spoils of war, the gun may be the possession of the military, on loan to the White House and like the Smithsonian, the White House is a museum, but an activily functioning museum.
When such items come to the President or White House, they are not the personal possessions of the President. Any gifts to the President remain with the Office and eventually get curated. So, the gun is NOT in Bush's private collection as the gun is not his.
As for the gun belonging to the people and therefore should be in the NRA museum, the gun undoubtedly does belong to the people of the US as are other items owned by the government. The NRA Museum is NOT a museum of the people. It is a private organization.
Well reading back over the thread, I now see most of my points were already noted. Sorry. At least the answers seem to be independently comfirming one another (assuming we aren't all wrong together).