KOAM-TV (http://bit.ly/1KGPrYo) reports Bourbon County Sheriff Bill Martin has been researching options for the Thompson submachine gun the Kansas governor issued to the county in 1933 as a way to defend against well-armed gangsters.

Several so-called Tommy guns were issued to Kansas counties near the Missouri and Oklahoma borders where criminals spent their time dodging the law. But what once was a state-of-the-art weapon has become a relic that has been locked away from public view for years.

Martin says many of the sheriffs he has contacted said they already had sold their Tommy guns so they could buy things like patrol rifles.

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Information from: KOAM-TV.