WASHINGTON, July 5 (RIA Novosti) – A rare Polish Maroszek wz.38 M rifle, believed to be one of only a handful still in existence around the world, is at the center of a legal battle in the United States between the gun’s owner, a Polish-born US resident, and the government of Poland, which says the gun is a piece of history that belongs in a Polish museum.
Kristopher Gasior, who buys and sells collectible guns through a website he runs, put the Maroszek up for sale earlier this year when he decided to scale down his gun inventory and sell all the firearms in his extensive collection that required him to hold a federal firearms license, the Washington Post said.
Days after he posted the Maroszek for sale on his website, US federal agents showed up at his home in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and took the rifle, “largely based on information provided by Poland,” which said the gun was “made exclusively for Polish military members” just before World War II and “belonged to Poland,” the Post reported.
Gasior insisted that the gun is his: he says he bought it legally in 1993 from another collector, for $9,500.
He declined to discuss the case with RIA Novosti on Friday, other than to confirm that the Maroszek was taken away by US officials.
The US Attorney’s office for the eastern district of Virginia has asked a court to decide who rightfully owns the rifle. A hearing is expected to be held this summer.
Born and raised in Warsaw, and with relatives who fought in the Polish resistance in World War II, Gasior told the Washington Post that the Maroszek was “probably the best piece” of his personal firearms collection, which includes rare 19th-century muskets from Afghanistan, the British Empire, France and Manchuria.
Gasior’s website lists the Maroszek wz.38 M rifle as being one of only seven in collections around the world: at the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw, at the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow, the National Firearms Museum in Virginia, and private collections in Germany and the United States, including his own.
“There may be one or two more rifles of this type hidden somewhere in the world, but that is about it,” he writes on his website where the Maroszek is now listed as being “on hold” until the courts decide who legally owns it.
No asking price is posted on the website but the Washington Post said Gasior wanted $65,000 for the 1930s’ rifle.
About 150 Maroszek wz.38 Ms were produced, starting in 1936 and ending in 1939, when the Nazi invasion of Poland started World War II.
Neither the Polish embassy in Washington nor Gasior’s lawyer replied immediately to messages from RIA Novosti seeking comment on the case.
