Twice a year, the gun range outside of Fort Knox (West Point, Kentucky) hosts a machine gun shoot. All of these Class 2 and 3 firearms are legal and licensed.

I've talked about going for several years. But this year, I may make the trip. The racing scene in the U.S. is becoming rather bland (NASCARized), IMO. Until I get the time (and money) to go racing more than once or twice a year, maybe I should get a Class 3 weapon and go play a few times a year... with Yosemite Sam types at least as crazy as I am.


http://www.knobcreekshoot.com/

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"Tweeter was a Boyscout before she went to Vietnam and found out the hard way... nobody gives a d@mn."

What does this have to do with gun control. Take your legal machine gun and go shoot it by a creek. I just find this simply ridiculous, owning machine guns just for some kicks and laughs. Next thing you know someone has stolen it and is blowing away a classroom full of kids.

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"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. " — John Stuart Mill

people who legally own machine guns just don't let someone "steal it". First, they cost a lot of money. Second, people who go through the process of getting an FID card and learn to shoot the thing and pay all the money etc. are probably going to shoot someone attempting to steal such a weapon, if they can even get their hands on it. Responsible people should be allowed to use guns, I see no problem with them protecting themselves. Especially when there are so many people out there illegally owning guns.

Machine Guns are military weapons. They are designed for personnel repression. If you want to take a pistol and go shoot it at some targets that seems fine, but you must be a complete moron if you buy a machine gun, and plan on using it for self-defense. Its even worse if you own it for no reason, just for some annual shooting down by the creek. Guns are stolen all the time, where do you think many of the illegal (machine) guns come from. Best to keep military weapons in the hands of the military, where you can bet your life they won't be stolen.

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"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. " — John Stuart Mill

I don't think civilians are allowed to own machine guns. So this argument is useless. I think the event discussed is one where machine guns are available to use, not where you bring your own.

Obviously you haven't lived much; you seem blissfully unaware that there are some pretty tough ghettos out there where machine guns are necessary for self-defense.

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Theodore Lamar Heiks
BA, History/Political Science, Western State College of Colorado, 1984
MBA, Entrepreneurship/Marketing, City University of Seattle, 1993

It is illegal to own machine guns in the United States. They are military arms, so the government is within its rights to ban private ownership of them. However, there should be no restrictions or delays on the ownership of any other guns.

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"I am a Tory Anarchist. I should like every one to go about doing just as he pleased- short of altering any of the things to which I have grown accustomed." (Max Beerbohm)

Our government did not ban machineguns in the United States. Our Federal Law says that you cannot own a machinegun if it was made after 1985. So a machine gun made prior to 1985 is still legal to own if you pay the $200.00 dollar tax, and it also depends on what state you live in. Some states allow civilian ownership of machineguns and some states do not.

Also I think civilians can still make machineguns in there private homes (United States v. Stewart ).

What I fear is people like WildBore becoming the majority in this country who think the military and police should own such firearms while the civilians should not.

http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcfullau.html

It has been unlawful since 1934 (The National Firearms Act) for civilians to own machine guns without special permission from the U.S. Treasury Department. Machine guns are subject to a $200 tax every time their ownership changes from one federally registered owner to another, and each new weapon is subject to a manufacturing tax when it is made, and it must be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) in its National Firearms Registry.

Since the Firearms Owners' Protection Act of May 19, 1986, ownership of newly manufactured machine guns has been prohibited to civilians. Machine guns which were manufactured prior to the Act's passage are regulated under the National Firearms Act, but those manufactured after the ban cannot ordinarily be sold to or owned by civilians.

Twenty-five states have no further restrictions on civilian ownership of machine guns (some require registration with the state) than what is required by federal law. Other states have either placed further restrictions or outlawed operable machine guns to civilians entirely.

Well, given these requirements, I don't have any problem with some private machine gun ownership:

Legal ownership of a machine gun requires an extensive federal background check, fingerprinting, signed clearance from the chief of local law enforcement (such as a county sheriff), a $200 excise tax , and weeks of paperwork. That was true before the assault-weapon ban was enacted in 1994, and it remains true with the expiration of the ban at midnight Sept. 13, 2004.

http://www.factcheck.org/article258.html

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"I am a Tory Anarchist. I should like every one to go about doing just as he pleased- short of altering any of the things to which I have grown accustomed." (Max Beerbohm)

I believe I have read that there has never been a case of a crime committed with a legally registered automatic weapon.