8/9: Second Gun Tag Surfaces In MLK Case Files, Undermining Single-Rifle Theory
A recently unearthed internal FBI inventory memo lists not one, but two separate 30.06 caliber rifle tags recorded under Martin Luther King Jr. exhibit entries in the 12 hours following the civil rights leader’s assassination.
The existence of a second weapon reference has not been disclosed in any official FBI reports, DOJ briefs, or House Select Committee exhibits.
The relevant line appears in a typed evidence room entry log dated April 5, 1968. It reads: MLK exhibit, Item 23: Remington 760 serial #D2611 -- received 8:30 a.m.; Item 25: 30.06 tag, no SN -- logged 10:42 a.m., custody transfer pending.
This direct reference to a second unidentified 30.06 caliber firearm tag contradicts the narrative that only one murder weapon--the Remington Gamemaster 760--was ever recovered and presented as evidence against James Earl Ray.
No other public record mentions an “Item 25” or a second tag entry. When contacted for clarification during the 1978 congressional inquiry, FBI representatives testified that no secondary firearm of the same caliber had been retrieved or considered.
However, the newly reviewed audit, which was filed in a batch labeled interim custody control, includes a hand-initialed note beside Item 25: hold for comparison, pending CID direction.
The memo is unsigned, and the initials--believed to be from an FBI lab technician--were redacted in 1970 under national security exemption clauses.
Further complicating the case, a lab analysis summary also found in the document batch states: specimen 3B-6 shows rifling inconsistency -- possibly different barrel. The note was included in a handwritten margin but never transcribed into official testimony or appended to trial exhibits.
Independent ballistics expert Harold Weisberg, who was granted limited access to FBI exhibits in the 1970s, also raised doubts about the bullet-rifle match.
In a private letter to a congressional aide, he referenced discrepancies in striation patterns and warned: It does not conform to the known profile of the Gamemaster’s barrel.
New analysis suggests this second tag may have corresponded to a weapon recovered under sealed circumstances--either discarded, misfiled, or deliberately unacknowledged. No photos, serial numbers, or field recovery memos have been linked to Item 25.
Moreover, a dispatch from the Memphis Police Division dated April 4, 1968, 9:10 p.m. refers to recovery of rifle-shaped object near trash receptacle on S. Main, logged for evidence by det. Lt. P.W. Ford.
However, the official FBI record only mentions the rifle found near the rooming house in a blanket.
This dual reference raises the question: was a second firearm briefly recovered but excluded from the primary narrative?
Another memo, marked For Internal Distribution Only, warns field agents to restrict exhibit movement to chain-approved articles--indicating a possible narrowing of the narrative before trial proceedings commenced.
The existence of two separate 30.06 weapon tags in evidence custody undermines decades of reliance on a singular ballistic chain and reopen questions about a second shooter or planted weapon theory.