Is it legal to own a fully automatic submachine gun in the US?

[Deity Dude]

I thought, in general, any firearm that you legally owned before they were made illegal were grandfathered in. Furthermore, I thought in general it was legal to "gift" or will what would otherwise be an illegal gun.

I may be wrong about this since my info is antecdotal, but my father-in-law's friend reads all the proposed regulations or enactments dates and then goes out and specifically buys the weapons while they are still legal.

[BeBMan]

What with owning nukes manufactured pre-1920?

[Unimatrix11]

How many do you need ?

[GePap]

Originally posted by BeBro
What with owning nukes manufactured pre-1920?

You would probably need the same license as needed for enchanted swords, magic longbows, and 5th Century BC guns.

[Blaupanzer]

On topic, no. The ATF stuff only applies in a limited number of places where the police agree to keep the automatic weapon in their station unless it is checked out for a specific, moniterable purpose. No weapons were "grandfathered in." You cna own such a weapon if the breech is permanently disabled, as by pouring in hot lead. I had an uncle with a couple of japanese MGs from WW II with that process. They looked very usable.

The last enchanted sword licence was issued in Germany in the 14th century. These are not transferable, inheritable, or available any more. The problem is the lack of legitimate alchemists based on the lead to gold test.

[Chemical Ollie]

Isn't the original idea of the constitutional American gun liberty to make private citizens capable of rising up against a bad government? So by today's standards, private citizens should be allowed to own at least assault rifles, RPG's, Stinger missiles and anti-vehicle mines on a personal level?

[onodera]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
Isn't the original idea of the constitutional American gun liberty to make private citizens capable of rising up against a bad government? So by today's standards, private citizens should be allowed to own at least assault rifles, RPG's, Stinger missiles and anti-vehicle mines on a personal level?

Yes, it was supposed to make the public more powerful that anything their Government could muster against them. Freedom of revolution, basically; the one that's mostly forgotten now, like the first rider of the Apocalypse.

[Kirnwaffen]

If sometimes confused in public debate, the two firearm types in the third general category are functionally and legally distinct. Fully-automatic firearms of any kind (including military assault rifles) have been subject to registration and licensing requirements since the passage of the National Firearms Act in 1934. Further import restrictions were part of the Gun Control Act of 1968, and the transfer of newly manufactured machine-guns to private citizens was banned with passage of the Firearm Owners Protection Act in 1986. New machine-guns in the US are still legal for purchase by the military and by governmental agencies, including civilian law enforcement; pre-1986 registered machine-guns are available to federally licensed private citizens (where permitted by state law), and have reached high market prices, eagerly sought by collectors because of their relative scarcity. An expansion has occurred in the number of states where such automatic weapons may legally be owned; for example, automatic-weapons were recently legalized in Kansas.

So, there you have it, from the wikipedia gods...

[Dinner]

I'd like to get one of these Berret M468 rifles with a collapsible stock and optional add on suppressor.



Or maybe a P90.

[Kirnwaffen]

Personally, I'm looking forward to the Masada (AKA Bushmaster ACR). Last I heard, they should be making their civilian debut in Q2 09.