The good folks at the ATF take their time because they make certain that applicants dot their I's cross their T's and are considered safe and responsible to own the fully automatic firearm.Ībide by local, state, and federal gun regulations: Assuming one has the record and the patience to pass the background check along with the actual cash to purchase the firearm, that person now finds themselves subject to a host of new regulations.Īs the Free Beacon's Gutowski explains, the ATF registers the new fully-automatic gun owner. Have a lot of patience: Every application apparently varies but the average time seems to be between 9 months and a year. Click here to read the entire application and click here to read the accompanying questionnaire. A record of civic responsibility isn't a guarantee of immediate approved. Other than a few parking tickets, are you a citizen in good standing? Also, good luck getting approval. That means filling out a 12-page application, submitting fingerprints, and sending photos to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.Īre you a felon? Are you or have you ever been committed to a mental institution? Are you a domestic abuser? Then good luck getting approval. Have a clean record: Before buying a fully-automatic weapon, a person must pay a $200-dollar tax and register an application with the federal government.
"It is a lengthy and burdensome process that requires extensive investigation by ATF." "These dealers are referred to as FFL/SOT (special occupational tax) or Class 3 FFL dealers," Davis explains over the Federalist. Anyone who wants to own a fully-automatic weapon must find a dealer who possesses not only a Federal Firearms License, they have to find a dealer who has gone through additional background checks and who pays increased licensing fees. There are less than 500,000 full-auto weapons in circulation as opposed to the millions of semi-auto rifles.įind a licensed dealer: Back in the 1930's machine guns, big belt-fed machines like those fired in the First World War, could be ordered through the mail.
#Machine guns for sale cheap registration
At the Weekly Standard, Lowe writes that the guns can cost upwards of $20,000.Īny gun for sale must have been manufactured before 1986 and must be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Records database. For instance, while a brand new semi-automatic AR-15 can cost as little as $450, fully-automatic weapon cost tens of thousands of dollars regardless of their condition. Have a raft of cash: When Reagan made owning a fully-automatic weapon manufactured after 1986 illegal, the federal government capped the supply making the guns left in circulation prohibitively expensive. Understand the difference between semi-automatic and fully-automatic guns: While a semi-automatic gun shoots a single bullet with a single pull of the trigger, a fully-automatic firearm shoots multiple, repeated rounds with a single trigger squeeze. To legally own a fully-automatic weapon requires three things: money, time, and an absolutely pristine criminal record. Thankfully a number of knowledgeable authors have helped clear the intellectual chamber- Christian Lowe of the Weekly Standard, Sean Davis of the Federalist, and Stephen Gutowski of the Free Beacon. Radio host Andy Cohen, for painful instance, asked why we don't ban machine guns all together. It's just exceptionally difficult and very expensive.Īfter the Las Vegas attack which left at least 50 dead and more than 400 wounded, calls for banning full-auto firearms, along with plenty of misinformation, has become rampant. In May of 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed the Firearm Owners Protection Act, which among other things, made the sale of fully-automatic firearms, manufactured before that year, illegal.