“Elvis' interest in guns started very early. He was in the Reserve Officer Training Corps program in high school. In 1956, he was given a .410 gauge Winchester shotgun for skeet shooting by a friend in Biloxi. While in the Army, he earned Sharpshooter badges for the .45 caliber pistol and M1 rifle, as well as a Marksman badge for the M2 carbine. In the early years at Graceland, he was known to keep a Colt .45 automatic for protection, and he set up a shooting gallery for target practice. He regularly carried a gun throughout the rest of his life. From 1964, his official appointment as a Shelby County Deputy Sheriff made it legal for Elvis to carry arms. His interest became an obsession in 1970. It may be traced to the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968; the Manson murders which happened not far from his home in Los Angeles in 1969; and the death threats he received in Las Vegas in 1970. This book only deals with a fraction of the 300 or so of the firearms and weapons which he collected or bought as presents, quite a few of which have sold at auction since he passed away. Some of the guns he purchased became legendary. He acquired a Python .357 revolver in 1970 in LA. He had it elaborately decorated. Estimated to bring between $125,000-175,000 by the Rock Island Auction Company, the revolver sold for $172,500 in May 2017, making it the most expensive Python .357 in the world. He applied the same treatment to a Smith & Wesson 357 Magnum revolver. It sold for $195,500 in May 2017, making it the most expensive Smith & Wesson 357 Magnum revolver in the world.”
Elvis' interest in guns started very early. He was in the Reserve Officer Training Corps program in high school. In 1956, he was given a .410 gauge Winchester shotgun for skeet shooting by a friend in Biloxi. While in the Army, he earned Sharpshooter badges for the .45 caliber pistol and M1 rifle, as well as a Marksman badge for the M2 carbine. In the early years at Graceland, he was known to keep a Colt .45 automatic for protection, and he set up a shooting gallery for target practice. He regularly carried a gun throughout the rest of his life. From 1964, his official appointment as a Shelby County Deputy Sheriff made it legal for Elvis to carry arms.
His interest became an obsession in 1970. It may be traced to the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968; the Manson murders which happened not far from his home in Los Angeles in 1969; and the death threats he received in Las Vegas in 1970.
This book only deals with a fraction of the 300 or so of the firearms and weapons which he collected or bought as presents, quite a few of which have sold at auction since he passed away. Some of the guns he purchased became legendary. He acquired a Python .357 revolver in 1970 in LA. He had it elaborately decorated. Estimated to bring between $125,000-175,000 by the Rock Island Auction Company, the revolver sold for $172,500 in May 2017, making it the most expensive Python .357 in the world. He applied the same treatment to a Smith & Wesson 357 Magnum revolver. It sold for $195,500 in May 2017, making it the most expensive Smith & Wesson 357 Magnum revolver in the world.
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