A Cultural History of the Tommy Gun
A particularly iconic American firearm is the Thompson submachine gun, aka the Tommy Gun, Chicago Typewriter, or Chicago Piano. If you’re interested in the mechanics behind this notable firearm, there are numerous YouTube channels out there discussing the manufacturing history of the gun and detailing how they function. I recommend Forgotten Weapons, which is a relatively non-political channel that focuses on firearm designs. In this short post, however, I will be going over the cultural history of the Tommy Gun and why it is so famous, because there are a number of other weapons from that era that are not nearly as well known. Just how is it that the Tommy Gun came to represent gangsterism, gun control, and patriotism? Turns out that’s an interesting bit of history.
The gun was designed by Colonel John M. Thompson, an Army ordinance officer, for use in WWI as a weapon for close quarters warfare. It is a “trench sweeper” or “trench broom” - a fully automatic submachine gun capable of firing a large number of .45 caliber pistol rounds in short order, for use where clearing trenches of enemy soldiers with a single shot at a time bolt action rifle that the standard infantryman issued for WWI would obviously be suboptimal. The Thompson did not make it to the Western Front before Armistice Day in November of 1918. Following the war, Colonel Thompson (now retired) tried to market his firearm on the civilian market for police forces. There was little interest in an era where the typical cop was armed with a .38 revolver, which for the most part, was sufficient for the tasks at hand prior to Prohibition. Of the roughly 15,000 guns that Colt had made, they had only sold a few thousand in those first lean years.
It wasn’t until the Gun Control Act of 1934 that there were any restrictions on civilian ownership of fully automatic firearms, and the general public wasn’t buying them either. And it wasn’t until the Firearm’s Owners Protection Act of 1986 that there was a cutoff for new registrations for legal ownership, which limited the supply of automatic weapons. The most prohibiting aspect of the gun for who would own a Tommy Gun was the price. They cost about $200 in 1920, accounting for inflation, which is about $3,200 today. Even prior to the Great Depression, that kind of money could get you a new Ford Model T. Gangsters, and later a few government agencies such as the FBI, were the ones who spent the cash to buy the gun.
It was Prohibition and the gangsters of Chicago that determined the next phase of the Tommy Gun’s history. The who and when of the introduction of the gun into Chicago’s Prohibition scene are disputed. What’s not, however, is that north side Irish Chicago gangs, in conflict with Al Capone’s Italian south side mobsters, began to use the gun in the mid-1920s. Essentially, its purpose as an uncomplicated weapon combined with its ability to rapidly fire a large number of rounds also made it attractive for criminals who aren’t shooting at enemies across a battlefield, but rather across a garage as in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre of seven north side gangsters by Capone’s men. By the late 1920s, the Tommy Gun appeared in east coast cities for use by their criminal underworld as well. It also became the preferred weapon of such folk anti-heroes as Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, and John Dillinger. It also began appearing in Hollywood films depicting gangsters and federal G-men that were popular in the 1930s and 1940s. At the same time the gun was made visually famous by film directors, as it has distinctive styling, it was adopted by the Marines and Coast Guard, and later the Army as it went into WWII.
When FDR took office, the repeal of Prohibition only shifted the sources of gangster income from illegal alcohol to other activities. Then the Gun Control Act of 1934 put in a requirement to federally register (with fingerprints) all automatic weapons, along with the then expensive purchase of a $200 tax stamp. For obvious reasons, this led the criminal element to turn to the black market, but in an era where non-automatic firearms could be purchased over the counter at a hardware store, the 1934 Act, in some combination with the end of Prohibition, led to the criminal use of the Tommy Gun subsiding.
The iconic gun was given to the disarmed British people in quantities before America’s active involvement in WWII as part of the Lend-Lease program, when they feared a German invasion of their island. Perhaps the most famous image of the Tommy Gun in history is the cigar chomping Prime Minister Winston Churchill mugging for a photograph with one in his hands.
Going into WWII, the US military, having purchased the Tommy Gun in small quantities in the interwar era, began to purchase them in large numbers. It wasn’t an ideal gun, but it worked well, they didn’t have to design anything new, and there was a number already available. The gun was complicated and expensive to manufacture, and it was eventually supplanted by cheaper and easier to produce weapons, such as the “Grease Gun” for the Americans and the Sten for the British. But large numbers of Tommy Guns served honorably in all theaters of WWII, through Korea, and lingered around until Vietnam before it was given an honorable retirement from military service. However, it still holds a spot in the minds of anybody who watches war and gangster movies, where it makes regular appearances. I had the pleasure of firing one once when I was a Gunner’s Mate stationed at the Coast Guard Academy. We had one, along with other museum guns. The basement range under the quad was the ideal spot to empty a magazine of ammo.
Buying a fully automatic and federally registered Tommy Gun will run someone about $8-30,000 today, and you can see them listed on online auction sites. It’s one of the more accessible fully automatic guns out there, as many made their way back after the war and ones from various police departments were eventually sold into civilian hands as more modern and superior firearms were purchased. The tax stamp is still $200, so it’s the supply restriction that makes the Tommy Gun, again, cost what one would pay for a typical new Ford car. Just like in the 1920s, the cost is what keeps more people from owning them. The criminal element of today that wants an automatic weapon, for a pittance comparatively, can obtain a Glock switch and an extended magazine. Such a combination gives one roughly the same firepower and in a smaller package. The Tommy Gun is iconic, but very dated.
There are semi-automatic versions of the Tommy Gun, with longer barrels, to get around the 1934 Gun Control Act and the requirement for a tax stamp. They don’t sell particularly well, lacking the raison d'etre of the original. However, there is enough memento value to this iconic gun that they are produced by Auto-Ordinance for people with $2,000 burning a hole in their wallet.
As for Colonel Thompson, he is quoted as lamenting the criminal use of his design, but he went to his eternal reward in 1940, just long enough to see his gun serve its original purpose, leaving a legacy that as long as there are heroes and villains wielding them in war and gangster movies, we’ll always see his iconic gun.