Per the rules setup under the National Firearms Act, machineguns cannot be transferred interstate between individuals. You must live in a state and jurisdiction that does not prohibit machineguns. You must not have been convicted of a crimeģ. This form is your ‘permission slip’ to own that specific machinegun.Ģ. When your form is approved, a Federal stamp in the amount of $200 is attached to your form certifying approval. Since these machineguns are already strictly controlled, there has been little or no ‘anti-gun’ pressure on them.Įver since the National Firearms Act of 1934, individuals buying machineguns have required the same procedure for each machinegun.ġ) Federal transfer form with fingerprints and photographs for the background check. What that means is that there is essentially no crime committed by individuals owning machine guns.
Since 1934, only two homocides have been linked to legally owned machine gun, and one was committed by a law enforcement officer, as opposed to a civilian (Zawitz, Marianne,Bureau of Justice Statistics, Guns Used in Crime). About half are owned by civilians and the other half by government agencies. As of 1995, there were over 240,000 machine guns registered by the BATFE nationwide. However, legal machine guns are never misused. Machine guns are an investment you can cherish, enjoy shooting, and pass on to future generations.Īren’t these guns dangerous? Well, like any firearm, they can be misused. In hard times, they may even be worth more. Unlike stock, bonds, and mutual funds it’s highly unlikely that it will ever be worthless. For instance, a transferable MP5 might sell for $15,000 now, they typically sold for $5000 or less ten years ago. The supply of ‘transferable’ machineguns is fixed by the 1986 ban, and the demand by people who want to own and shoot them is steadily increasing. So, how can machineguns be a great investment? It’s as simple as supply and demand. These machine guns are commonly called “transferables.” There is, however, over a quarter million existing “pre-May” machineguns that are perfectly legal to purchase. Any guns manufactured and registered with BATFE after May of 1986 cannot be sold or possessed by individual citizens. This law banned the manufacture, import, and sale of new machineguns to civilians. (Sounds like a good thing, right?) Wrong. The reason for this is that in 1986, Congress passed the Firearms Owner’s Protection Act. In fact, macihineguns are a very wise and lucrative investment. There is no blanket law that prevent private ownership of machineguns. Machineguns are certainly the most fun and most collectible firearms you can own. In most states, if you qualify to own a handgun, you are qualified to own a machinegun. Unless you live in one of the few states that prohibit machineguns (listed below) or are a convicted felon you can legally own a fully automatic machine gun. Article: "So You Want to Buy a Transferable Machine Gun."