D.C. museum acquires rifle of America’s ‘first active shooter’
Perhaps one of the most infamous firearms ever carried by a criminal in his final act, the bolt-action rifle among those used by Charles Whitman in the 1966 University of Texas shootings, is now on display in the nation’s capital.
The gun, a Remington 700 ADL in 6mm with a vintage Leupold scope, believed to be the same one that Whitman climbed to the top of the 28th floor observation deck of the UT main building and among the guns used to kill 12 people with, was acquired in a private transaction by the National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington D.C. for an unknown sum.
The gun had been offered for sale for $25,000 in September and still has handwritten scope ballistic adjustments (aka “come ups”) on a piece of tape affixed to the rifle’s butt stock.
Its morbid, but its still history.
More over in my column at Guns.com