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I'm not American so I am not familiar with the laws there, but I was watching The Terminator, and the scene when The Terminator looks at a fully automatic UZI in the gunshop... I was wondering, are civilians allowed to buy fully automatic weapons in the US, or was this just made up for the movie?
Made up for the movies. I believe you can own a fully auotomatic machine gun if you register with the government and pay a lot of fees, but I think it's rare.
The laws are a bit complex but you cannot, as a civilian, buy any machine gun built after 1986. Certain federal license holders can buy them, or build them, from parts added to an existing semi-auto model. However, you, as an individual, do not really own the gun. It is held only under your license. When you close your shop, sell the gun, whatever, it has to go back to ATF, or the parts that you added to make it full auto have to go back. These are documented inventories at the shop and ATF can walk in any time and audit you and you had better be able to account for them. There are harsh penalties at the federal level for violation of any of these rules.
For machine guns manufacturered prior to 1986, these are known as transferable machine guns. You can own them as an individual, but again only if you hold federal licenses specifically permitting you to do so. Because this pool of guns is of finite number, the prices are ridiculously high. I mean solid 5 figures high IF you can find them.
The applications, background checks and licensing for these types of firearms are very strict, well beyond what is required for any other type of firearm purchase. So, in short, what you saw in terminator is pure Hollywood.
And BTW, thank you for asking. Far too many people just accept Hollywood nonsense as the way things are without ever questioning it.
Oh okay. So since The Terminator came out in 1984, back then, a person could own then as an individual?
Yes, you could own a full-auto gun in 1984 without jumping through a lot of hoops & they were inexpensive at that time. You can still own one today, but you have to buy a tax-stamp, submit fingerprints & wait for a background check, and the guns are more expensive than they used to be.
There are shooting ranges that rent full-auto guns & once you try one, other than the "cool" factor, they're not that big of a deal - you can empty a 30-rd mag in a few seconds & get three or four bullets on a target before the recoil throws your aim off completely. The real thing isn't as good as the movie.
here are some available for sale. Note those Transferable are available to most of us at great cost. the dealer samples are sold back and forth between certain FFL license holders. I ca guarantee you curio and relic transferable are expensive! And the process for the feds to approve you are uncomfortable. https://www.gunbroker.com/Machine-Gu...=2&PageIndex=2
I'm not American so I am not familiar with the laws there, but I was watching The Terminator, and the scene when The Terminator looks at a fully automatic UZI in the gunshop... I was wondering, are civilians allowed to buy fully automatic weapons in the US, or was this just made up for the movie?
If the uzi is semi automatic, its allowed in many states. If its fully automatic, it's still allowed, but only after a tax stamp ($200 tax, background check, fingerprinting, and about a 6 to 12 month wait). Also, full auto uzi costs around $7-15 thousand USD because of import laws and the fact that no machinegun made later than 1986 can be sold to the public even with the above process. Supply and demand...
Yes, you could own a full-auto gun in 1984 without jumping through a lot of hoops & they were inexpensive at that time. You can still own one today, but you have to buy a tax-stamp, submit fingerprints & wait for a background check, and the guns are more expensive than they used to be.
There are shooting ranges that rent full-auto guns & once you try one, other than the "cool" factor, they're not that big of a deal - you can empty a 30-rd mag in a few seconds & get three or four bullets on a target before the recoil throws your aim off completely. The real thing isn't as good as the movie.
1984 was the same hoops. They just weren't banned from civilian manufacturing sales then, so supply and demand wasnt a factor. Hence the prices.
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