'The Purchase was Encouraged by Johansson's Mother'

“Swedish man buys army tank ‘on impulse,'” because hey, a bitchin’ ride is a bitchin’ ride, even in the land of Volvos. And kudos to mom for being pretty laid back about junior’s new purchase:

Jimmy Johansson, a 23-year-old from Borlänge in central Sweden, can now add tank to his list of possessions. But the 76,000 kronor ($11,700) purchase wasn’t something he planned.

“It was just an impulse buy from beginning… I went to look at a motor and my eyes were drawn to this instead,” he told The Local.

The PBV 401, a Soviet-built fully amphibious tank that weighs around 12 tonnes and travels at a top speed of 80 kilometres per hour, is parked out the front of his grandfather’s house while Johansson decides what to do with it.

The purchase was encouraged by Johansson’s mother.

“When I was about to buy it I called my mother and she just started laughing. She said ‘Just get it’ so I did. And because I can’t take it out on the streets we had to take it on the back of a truck to get it home… people couldn’t help but stare.”

Piers Morgan could not be reached for table-banging puritanical indignation.

“Do you think you should have the right to have a tank under the 2nd Amendment?” @piersmorgan asking @dloesch#CNN live

— Piers Morgan Tonight (@PiersTonight) January 17, 2013

(Via Maetenloch at Ace of Spades.)