A 9-11 Hero’s Revolver

by
posted on September 9, 2011
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
keefe2015_fs.jpg

We often get firearm industry visitors here at NRA HQ, and after our meetings are over, John Zent often asks me to take the group on a tour of the National Firearms Museum. The tour begins and ends with two guns that, in my mind, best signify our freedom and our struggle to preserve it.

The first is a German wheellock carbine (think of it as a muzzleloader with a complicated Zippo for a lockplate) brought to North America by John Alden on the Mayflower in 1620. It is the first gun we can say, for sure, was in North America and linked to a specific man taking his first steps in the New World. It resides in its own case at the entrance to the museum. But the second gun resides in the Law Enforcement case leading to the impressive facility’s exit (if you haven’t been to the museum, you need to go).

The gun I invariably end the tour with wasn’t owned by a king or president. This gun is not lavishly engraved, nor does it mark a major milestone in the development of firearm technology. No, it is a battered, burned .38 Spl. Smith & Wesson J-frame with incinerated stocks, likely vaporized, and a frame and sideplate warped and separated by extreme heat. It doesn’t look like much, but like so many guns in the museum, owner and his story make its value incalculable.

This little Smith belonged to NYPD Police Officer Walter Weaver, a proud NRA member and avid hunter who woke on September 11, 2001, put on his uniform and went to work. It was his back-up gun, and a good choice of one I might add as countless police officers and armed citizens-me included-regard it as the best tool for the job.

As an officer in the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit, 30-year-old Walter Weaver wasn’t even supposed to be in Manhattan that day. But when his truck, ESU No. 3, responded to the despicable attack on the Twin Towers, Weaver was on it. He and his fellow officers, along with FDNY brothers, entered Tower 2 and went to work getting their fellow citizens out, clearing the building floor-by floor and risking their own lives so that others might live. The last report from Walter Weaver was as he and others on the sixth floor of Tower 2 were attempting to free screaming people trapped in an elevator. Then came the collapse. And silence from the Weaver’s radio.

As you can read in Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre’s story “What Walter Taught Me,” he attended Walter Weaver’s funeral, cried with the Weaver family and mourned the loss of a young life cut short by evil. A member of the NRA family taken, just one of many NRA members, wantonly murdered that day in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

This revolver was the only tangible link to Walter Weaver’s life found in the carnage and debris of the World Trade Center. Once it was identified, the Weaver family contacted Wayne and asked if it could be displayed at the NRA Museum. Obviously, NRA was awed and gratefully to accept it, a final gift from a family that has given so much. And there it resides in a place of pride today, an artifact that once belonged to one of our heroes. It’s a reminder of a young man’s courage, his duty, his life and his sacrifice. I stop in front of that humble revolver every time I pass through the museum and it reminds me that, even as we go about our daily lives, freedom isn’t free. God bless you, Walter.

Latest

Making Keltec Pr57 1
Making Keltec Pr57 1

Making The KelTec PR57 In Wyoming

To make its PR57 handgun, KelTec invested in an entirely new manufacturing facility located in Rock Springs, Wyo. "American Rifleman Television" headed out for an inside look at the company's efficient production process.

Taurus 66 Combat: A New "Fighting Revolver"

First introduced in the 1970s, the Taurus 66 Combat is a medium-frame revolver that has seen several evolutions in its lifetime, and the latest update creates what the company considers "the final word in fighting revolvers."

Review: Taurus GX2

From cars to cellphones, as a product gets more sophisticated, it usually also gets more expensive. And, as modern handguns get more modular and optic-ready, their prices tend to go up.

Rifleman Q&A: A Garand Puzzlement

"We are a father-and-son NRA member tandem in search of an answer regarding the branding of an M1 Garand rifle. We own an M1 rifle that has markings indicating it was a “lend lease to England,” and it also has a .308 barrel/sleeve."

$160K Raised For HAVA At SIG Sauer Event

SIG Sauer hosted its 9th Annual Honored American Veterans Afield (HAVA) Charity Golf event early last month and raised more than $160,000 to support disabled veterans.

Scout The Trail To A General Purpose Rifle

The search for a universal longarm—one suitable for both hunting and defensive scenarios—is a trek that involves a bit of doubling back.

Interests



Get the best of American Rifleman delivered to your inbox.