Quote:
Originally Posted by yanks12025
You need a special license for a fully automatic rifle. These people are using those type of guns, they are using single shot guns and maybe three-round burst but im not sure if you need a license for three-round burst.
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Yes, you do need the special license for anything beyond semi automatic (More than 1 shot for each trigger pull)
The background check to get that license is very detailed. I've heard it's equivalent to the background check done for FBI applicants.
The permit is also expensive, and the transfer tax at purchase is $200 on top of all other fees and taxes.
It's been that way since 1934.
And since then precisely 0 crimes have been comitted with legally owned machine guns.
"Assault weapons" are simply a class of semi automatic firearms defined by the government when they were banned between 1994 and 2004.
Most of the things that defined a weapon as an assault weapon were cosmetic.
Semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of the following:
Folding or telescoping stock
Pistol grip
Bayonet mount
Flash suppressor, or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one
Grenade launcher (more precisely, a muzzle device that enables launching or firing rifle grenades, though this applies only to muzzle mounted grenade launchers and not those mounted externally).
Semi-automatic pistols with detachable magazines and two or more of the following:
Magazine that attaches outside the pistol grip
Threaded barrel to attach barrel extender, flash suppressor, handgrip, or suppressor
Barrel shroud that can be used as a hand-hold
Unloaded weight of 50 oz (1.4 kg) or more
A semi-automatic version of a fully automatic firearm.
Semi-automatic shotguns with two or more of the following: Folding or telescoping stock
Pistol grip
Fixed capacity of more than 5 rounds
Detachable magazine.
Many guns used for legitimate purposes would also qualify.
I'm pretty sure the old shotgun my friend let me use to try trap shooting has more than a 5 round magazine. I'm not sure because the rules of the sport require loading only one at a time so I've never used it any other way.
As far as being designed for military use goes, the M1 a rifle designed for the military in the 30's and used extensively into the 50's and even 60's by the US and still in service elsewhere is one of the most popular for marksmanship. They can be made very accurate.
They're also popular for hunting and look like any other rifle.
I don't own any guns, and likely never will. ADD and guns are not a great combination and I refuse to become the guy who forgets the gun in the couch and shoots himself in the backside(or worse)
But the good ones are impressive bits of mechanical design and machining. I wouldn't mind having one based on that alone even if I never used it.
Steve B