Bruce Stern (September 25, 1942 – July 18, 2007) was an American attorney and gun collector. He served on the board of directors of the

National Rifle Association of America The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while cont ...

. Stern graduated from the

Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...

at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1964 and earned his J.D. at

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

, and his master's degree at the University of Bridgeport. Bruce E. Stern A

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the U.S. Army, Stern was a Vietnam veteran, serving at Long Binh, and was a member of

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

Post 141. In addition to his legal career, Stern was the founder and president of the Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen, and a contributing writer to its magazine, ''Hook 'N' Bullet''. He died on July 18, 2007.

Firearms Collection

Stern amassed an historically significant collection of more than 4,000 rare and high-condition military firearms. These were disposed of in a series of auctions following his death. One session set a new world record of $12.7M for the highest grossing firearms auction, although firearms from Stern's collection only formed part of that auction. After his death, Stern's collection achieved a legendary status online due to its size and quality, but also in part due to a series of photographs circulating since at least 2008. The images of an extensive gun room and museum-grade collection have been variously attributed to Stern,

Charlton Heston Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923April 5, 2008) was an American actor and political activist. As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film ''The Ten C ...

, and Robert Starer of Historic Arms in Virginia. However, a 2009 investigation by Snopes did not establish a connection between the collection and any of these individuals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Bruce University of Bridgeport alumni Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni New York University School of Law alumni 2007 deaths 1943 births