# Army captain explaining the mechanism of a Thompson submachine gun to a Hartford police captain, Camp Perry, Ohio, 1930 (National Archives)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/nara-405231070-thompson-camp-perry-1930/

U.S. Army Signal Corps photograph from the 1930 National Rifle Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio. The original caption describes the Thompson submachine gun as "a favorite of Chicago gunmen." Two Thompsons are visible, and the man on the right holds a drum magazine.

The National Archives titles this photograph "Captain C.B. Norris, of the U.S. Army, Explaining Mechanism of Thompson Submachine Gun to Captain Edward Lanrish of the Hartford, Connecticut, Police Department." It was made at the National Rifle Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio, which ran from 25 August to 14 September 1930. The original Signal Corps caption reads: "Thompson submachine gun, a favorite of Chicago gunmen. Captain C.B. Norris, US Army, explaining mechanism to Capt. Edward Lanrish, left, of Hartford, Conn. Police Department. E.E. Richardson Maumee, Ohio, on the right."

Two Thompsons are visible; the man on the right holds a drum magazine in his hand, and the photograph does not show it fitted to a gun. The phrase about Chicago gunmen is the 1930 caption's wording, not a finding of this archive. The photograph itself shows men at a rifle range handling the weapon; it does not show a crime. The stored copy includes the scanner's color target along the bottom edge.

**Object:** Thompson submachine guns, two, and a drum magazine  
**Maker:** not stated in the caption  
**Date:** August-September 1930  
**Provenance:** U.S. Army Signal Corps; National Archives, Record Group 111, Local ID 111-SC-95390-38  
**Appears in:** National Archives, series Photographs of American Military Activities (NAID 530707)

## Sources

- National Archives Catalog: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/405231070