I have a slight understanding of the conditions, you know the visits from the BATFE and all, but what are the requirements for obtaining a federal firearms license? And what are the benefits of having said permit? I am not looking to be a dealer or manufacturer, but I do wish to eventually own a DPMS A17, H&K MP5N, and a couple other automatic weapons. Also, I understand that legally, it would be hard to find a place to shoot them. If I were to -hypothetically speaking- get a hold of a few acres (say 10 for instance) that were away from any other public or private property where people would commonly be found, would it be legal to fire these weapons there? Are there requirements for this, or does it have to be on specially permitted land?
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- Is it legal to shoot someone with a legally-owned machine gun?
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tjktyjit
Machine guns are legal for civilians to own (at the federal level… local laws may prohibit it). There are two ways to own fully automatic weapons in the US.
First, you can buy a fully-transferable, pre-1986 weapon (assuming your state allows this… here in WA, these weapons are illegal at the state level). This simply requires filling out the required paperwork and paying a $200 fee. Fully-transferable machine guns can be had for as little as a few thousand dollars, but you won’t find an MP5 or M16 variant for that little. You can expect $10000 or more for those.
Second, you can obtain a Federal Firearms License and pay the additional occupational tax required to deal in machine guns. $200 every three years for the license, $500 every year for the machine gun dealership eligibility. This will allow you to buy machine guns that are not fully-transferable (which will be cheaper). This is a shift from the way they used to license machine gun dealers, so I may be a bit off, but that’s what I gleaned from the ATF’s site.
And unless your state/county/municipality has laws against it, you can fire a machine gun anywhere you can fire a standard firearm. You’ll have to check your local laws for that.
You need a ATF Class lll Firearms permit.
You just have to be 21 and pay the fees and wait for your background check.
You can fire automatic weapons at most gun ranges.
Alot of gun ranges today, even rent automatic weapons for their customers to fire.
I want to say that a Class III firearms permit is required to have one, but I disagree with the other poster about the cost.
Here in Georgia there are actual law enforcement officers themselves selling guns out of apartments. I presume it’s legal as you do need to have the permits but they certainly weren’t charging $10K+
Even if you have the proper paperwork from the ATF, legal fully automatic weapons are ridiculously expensive. Figure on $10,000 to $15,000 (minimum) for each gun.
For those below who doubt the cost of a legal, fully transferable fully automatic weapon, here is one place that sells them:
http://www.csmetall-werkes.com/products/index.html?id=51&submit=view
Those cops might be selling guns, but they aren’t selling full auto, I guarantee it.
I own a true blue H&K MP5, FNH SCAR .308 and FS2000 custom… All full auto. All purchased for less than 10k. Not trying to be mean, but if your paying that much for a full auto rifle, you are either the army or an amateur. Get informed and find dealers in your area that might be able to set you up with the right purchase, at the right price.