Virginia tops U.S. in machine gun owners

There were 30,220 registered machine guns in Virginia as of March, according to figures compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

That's more than any other state in the nation.

Florida and California, with far larger populations than Virginia, ranked second and third in the number of registered machine guns, with 29,128 and 28,774, respectively.

Nationally, there are nearly 500,000 registered machine guns, according to an annual report compiled by the ATF.

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There is one legal machine gun for every 267 Virginians. I know that many in this count are in the hands of police departments, but rest are owned by private collectors. Makes me proud of the Old Dominion.

One thing for sure is a maching gun is one of the best investments you can make. Values continually go up. Since private collectors are only allowed to own machine guns manufactured or imported before 1986. Supply is limited.

It doesn't say in the article how many are owned by private citizens

These could all be owned by local police with a few in private hands

With all the military bases in California , yea there's a lot but how many are owned by average joe next door? Probably not many

It's nearly impossible for the average person to leagley own a full auto machine gun in California

California has the strictest gun laws in the country, so those numbers must include military

Be safe people

reply to post by viperdave


I agree that in California the laws would lead you to think that most are in the hands of the Police.

But, Virginia is a very different place. I have and know many people that own machine guns. You just need to pay the tax of $200.00, wait 6-8 months for the paper work to get approved and register the machine gun with the State Police.

reply to post by VAPatriot


Nevada and arizona state you have to also have a federal fire arms licence which is about $1500 a year pluss register each one with your local law enforcement, plus pay $200 tax then you can pay the huge price to own one!!

California sucks for gun owners! But we can own some cool semi auto weapons!

In a SHTF scenario most semi autos can be converted to full auto by a competent machinest

If it comes to that and it gets that bad on the streets, I don't think the LEOs are gonna care if your gun is fully auto or semi, they will have too much on there plate to care

Originally posted by viperdave
It doesn't say in the article how many are owned by private citizens

These could all be owned by local police with a few in private hands

With all the military bases in California , yea there's a lot but how many are owned by average joe next door? Probably not many

It's nearly impossible for the average person to leagley own a full auto machine gun in California

California has the strictest gun laws in the country, so those numbers must include military

Be safe people

Those do no include military, their weapons are not counted at the state level. Up until the mid 80s California had a pretty thriving gun culture.

Full auto weapons were pretty unregulated in the 20's and 30's. there were also a lot of WWII "bring backs". As long as you got everything registered before 86 I think your ok.

Transferrable machine guns are so damn expensive these days. Must be an abundance of folks with money to burn in Virginia.

$3k - $5k will get you something small and simple.Like a Mac-10 or Mac-11.

$8k - $12k will get you into the rifle range. Firearms like the Ruger AC556 or early model M16 rifles.

Around $20k will get you most other full auto firearms out there aside from belt feds.

For something belt fed, you are looking at $30k or more.

The only exception is if you become a dealer and have a valid Federal Firearm License. In such case, you would be eligible to get dealer samples which go for a fraction of the price. Rifles and submachine guns usually go for $2k - $5k in this category.

Seems like these points are important...

Experts suggested several factors. One is that police departments are taking a more "militarized" approach to fighting crime, with SWAT teams equipped with armored vehicles and high-caliber weaponry. An increase nationally in the number of machine guns "is at least partly a reflection of the increasing militarization of policing in the past 25 years, which has occurred despite a decline in crime and violence," Gary Kleck, a criminology professor at Florida State University who researches gun issues, wrote in an email.

Another factor is that Virginia, long considered a gun-friendly state, has a large retired military population that might be inclined to own machine guns as collector items.

And with census data ranking the state among the nation's top 10 in personal income, it may be that more Virginians can afford the guns, which can sell for $10,000 or more.

reply to post by allenidaho


Your pretty much spot on with you prices. Many people are converting there US Dollars into tangible items like, food, water, guns and ammo. Machine guns are a good investment. There is a steady increase in value historicly. Surely better then keeping your dollars in a bank. Imagine the bartering power a machine gun would have in a SHTF world.

reply to post by allenidaho


And you could get every one of those items for a mere pittance on the street.

Last time I checked the Silk Road / BMR had full auto AK's for $500. Genuine or not I dont know but if the real article that means an illegal full auto AK would cost less on the street than a semi variant would cost in a legitimate shop.

Gotta love prohibition.

Originally posted by LadySkadi
Seems like these points are important...

Experts suggested several factors. One is that police departments are taking a more "militarized" approach to fighting crime, with SWAT teams equipped with armored vehicles and high-caliber weaponry. An increase nationally in the number of machine guns "is at least partly a reflection of the increasing militarization of policing in the past 25 years, which has occurred despite a decline in crime and violence," Gary Kleck, a criminology professor at Florida State University who researches gun issues, wrote in an email.

Another factor is that Virginia, long considered a gun-friendly state, has a large retired military population that might be inclined to own machine guns as collector items.

And with census data ranking the state among the nation's top 10 in personal income, it may be that more Virginians can afford the guns, which can sell for $10,000 or more.

edit on 23-10-2012 by LadySkadi because: (no reason given)

They are excellent points and I believe are the exact reason for the numbers in the report.

Virginia may be the one state that the people are the most closely armed as the Police. Hmmm.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Prohibition indeed.

The National Rifle Association has estimated that the effect of the 1986 law had been to "freeze" the number of privately owned fully-automatic firearms at roughly 150,000. That's it and that's all that will ever be available for private ownership.

But the Police departments can have modern new Machine guns.

Here is an example of the price difference between an MP5 for Civilian transferable pre '86 ($12 - $25 K) and a new MP5 for Police ( $3 K).

Now do the math if they are saying that there are 500,000 Machine guns out there and only 150,000 are available to Civilians that puts the number Police have at 350,000. Showes the militarization of American police. The Military is not counted in these figures.

Originally posted by VAPatriot
reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Now do the math if they are saying that there are 500,000 Machine guns out there and only 150,000 are available to Civilians that puts the number Police have at 350,000. Showes the militarization of American police. The Military is not counted in these figures.

True. But that may work in the publics favor. As it is cops cant shoot for crap. Even the "uber-elite" ones fail miserably against the average recreational shooter. Couple that with full auto fire rates and what you get is a little boy playing dress up and making a whole lot of noise but not ever hitting anything.

This is legal owners.

I don't know how they're classifying "machine guns". If theyre only considering fully automatic function so that assault rifles and submachine guns are included, but if they are then there are probably many states which have more owners than Va.

There are literally millions of illegal fully automatic weapon owners in this country.
What do you think, OP?


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Originally posted by spinalremain
This is legal owners.

I don't know how they're classifying "machine guns". If theyre only considering fully automatic function so that assault rifles and submachine guns are included, but if they are then there are probably many states which have more owners than Va.

There are literally millions of illegal fully automatic weapon owners in this country.
What do you think, OP?

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

Yes, it is registered fully-automatic weapons only. That is what a Machine gun is. An assault rifle is a select-fire (either fully automatic or burst capable) rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. A submachine gun (SMG) is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges.

There are millions of semi-automatic assault weapons in this country, not fully-automatic weapons.

Seems to be a common misconception.

In the 9th Circuit Court decision 'Stewart-vs-US' the lefty California Court ruled even a Felon can make his own home made machine gun at home and never register it and she's 100% legal.

They only convicted him because he obtained firearms with serial numbers that he didn't make himself...and as a Felon couldn't own them..


Those machine gun numbers are really really really low. The Air Force pulling those old M16a1's out of the armories and refitting them from fully auto to 3 shot burst.........my guess would be many many many of the young kids who did the conversions were smart enough to take those few little pieces home that were going to be thrown away.

It's legal to make your own machine gun in America. Cali 9th Circuit Court said so.

It doesn't take much for an AR-15 to be converted to full auto. Basically all you need are a couple pieces of sheetmetal to make yourself a lightning link out of. At the most, you may need to switch to a SP1 bolt carrier depending on what type your AR uses.




However, keep in mind that making one and installing it is illegal. There are a handful of registered ones out there that you can get. But you will end up paying somewhere around $7k for that $2 piece of sheetmetal.

Who cares. Fully automatic rifles are used mainly for fire superiority/suppression. The more guns the merrier -- I'd just rather see them in the hands of honest civilians rather than the gov.

Originally posted by DriCo04
Who cares. Fully automatic rifles are used mainly for fire superiority/suppression. The more guns the merrier -- I'd just rather see them in the hands of honest civilians rather than the gov.

I agree here with DriCo04. However at the cost of ammunition I have no desire to own one ..in years past or today. It costs lots of monies to feed a maching like this.

My understanding is that here in Virginia we have a large military complex from the north of the state down to the south near North Carolina...all branches We also have a large number of police who are also National Guard.

What is also not generally known ..here around Richmond and outside of Washington DC...Alexandria area..there are a number of warehouses which serve the military and store small arms and ammunition. Some of them are private companies serving the military....arms dealers. This is not something our government nor these people generally advertise to the public.

But in certain circles this informations is known. I was at first stunned to find out that there were some of these companies around Richmond doing business with and for the government..

But in the bigger picture ..I am not surprised to find that Virginia has such a large number of machine gun owners.

I know two people who have the class of firearm licenses which allow them to own supressors/silencers. I dont believe they own full autos..but they like suppressors. I also do not know if this is the same class of license as for owning a machine gun.

I have no interest in owning a machine gun. If I want to shoot alot ..I will use a shotgun. Now a supressor ..that might be an interesting and useful tool.

Orangetom

I wonder if those 'machine guns' are belt fed or mag fed, just a thought, I notice the Brits call anything fast firing a 'machine gun' even AK's! (MSN propaganda I suppose).