At the end of the day, those firearms (and their intrinsic value) belong to the inheritors of that estate and it is entirely their call as to what happens to them. We can sit here and moan about live guns being deactivated until the cows come home, but unless somebody is willing to pony up the cash equivalent to their deactivated value, it is all moot. The sad truth is those guns are worth more dead than alive solely because of our ideologically-driven government's civilian disarmament agenda. It is not the estate's fault any more than it is an auctioneer's. The inheritors of that estate are understandably interested in obtaining top dollar for that collection, and the easiest route to that end-state is deactivation within the current anti-firearms political climate. It only makes sense. The preservation of history is all well and good until it costs real dollars out of someone's pocket, then the altruistic urges usually lose out to fiscal reality.
My collection is another one that is worth "more dead than alive" due to the high number of recent and "classic" prohibs within it. I can tell you that those firearms each cost my family dearly, and my estate won't be donating many (if any) to a museum for a tax write-off worth pennies on the dollar. In all likelihood they will instead dbe chopped and/or welded to order as they are sold off -- either as de-registered parts kits or deactivated display pieces. Like others, my estate will be interested in the firearms primarily as a commodity to be sold for the highest possible dollar. The collection was important to me, but when I am dead and gone? All bets are off. My son and daughter may each elect to keep a few "sentimental" firearms from the limited selection that they is permitted to own, but the prohibs will go the way of the Dodo bird. Want someone to blame? Blame the government or making deactivation the only financially lucrative future for prohibited firearms in this country. Auctions are too risky a proposition, notwithstanding the current high priices being realized through Switzers, Landsborough, Wards and others. Deactivation is the far more predictable route to liberating finances that are tied up in a prohib firearms collection.
It sucks, but there it is. Expect to see more and more newly-deactivated prohibs on the market as the last generation of "classic" 1990s OIC owners dies off in the coming decade or two. Barring a change in government and a dramatic shift in the course of national firearms legislation in this country, the prohibs are doomed.. Better an inert, deactivated discussion piece than a smelter-recycled future as razor blades or some such.
One of the best posts I have seen on here in a long time . very well said and to the point . I look at deactivating a firearm the same way that I would look at castration . so law abiding citizens held to the highest standards by our so called Government being told that they must ruin what they have paid for out of their own pockets . wow . soon what is to come . they will be sending interior decorators to our homes who are certified by the Government to tell us how to decorate or homes ? or what groceries we can or can't buy ?