After reading this repost, I feel compelled to dispel yet another common myth about firearms. There is no blanket federal law that prevents the private ownership of machine guns. In fact, machine guns can be a wise and lucrative investment.

In 1986, Congress passed the Firearms Owner's Protection Act. (Sounds like a good thing, right?) Wrong. It banned the manufacture, import, and sale of new machine guns to civilians. Any guns manufactured after the ban cannot be sold or possessed by regular folks. There are, however, thousands upon thousands of existing "pre-ban" machine guns that it is perfectly legal to purchase. (Assuming you aren't prevented from doing so by your state or local laws.) The transfer of "pre-ban" machine guns has been regulated by the Treasury Department since 1934. Paperwork must be filed with the BATF, and there is a one-time $200 tax stamp added to the purchase of every gun. You are also registered in a national database.

When you purchase a machine gun, you need to fill out your paperwork for the BATF, and send it in with your tax payment. Once it comes back approved (ie, you aren't someone who has been stripped of their ownership rights), you can take your gun home. The process usually takes several months, but the dealer should help you out. Some dealers even allow you to come in and shoot your gun at their range while you are waiting for your paperwork to clear. You just cannot take it home yet.

"Post-ban" machine guns are manufactured exclusively for sale to LEOs or the military, or export. They usually sell for several hundred to a few thousand dollars, depending on the firearm, but they are illegal for the public to own. The bottom line is that you cannot have one of those without breaking the law. Period.

Now, if you are willing to spend a few thousand dollars, you can get a fully transferable pre-ban machine gun. The "pre-ban" guns that regular folks can buy are considered Class III Transferable firearms, and include machine guns, short barrelled shotguns, supressors (there is no such thing as a 'silencer'), and other 'destructive devices'. Since the firearms are pre-ban, that means they aren't making any more of them and are limited in number. That is what gives them their value.

So, how can machine guns be an investment. Well, since there are only so many of them out there, the price is almost always increasing. It is sort of like real estate. For instance, this fully transferable MP-5 submachine gun is selling for $12,500. I know it's a lot of money. I never said they were cheap, I merely said they were legal. While this gun costs $12,500 this year, it may be worth $14,000 or perhaps even more next year. Then again, if the demand decreases, it could also be worth less.

Do you have to spend more than $10,000? No, of course not. There are plenty of good automatic firearms out there for a few thousand dollars. If you plan on shooting any of them, you are probably better off getting the cheaper ones any way. Still, it is possible to buy a machine gun for about $2500, shoot it at your leisure, hold it for a few years, and then sell it off for a tidy profit. In fact, your biggest risk would be a change in the federal laws. For instance if Congress decided to let the ban sunset (that means expire), you could lose your investment entirely. But what are the odds of that?

Aren't these guns dangerous? Well, like any firearm, they can be misused. Guncite notes that as of 1995, there were over 240,000 machine guns registered by the BATF nation wide.

About half are owned by civilians and the other half by police departments and other governmental agencies... Since 1934, only one legally owned machine gun has ever been used in crime, and that was a murder committed by a law enforcement officer (as opposed to a civilian).

What that means is that most machine gun crime is committed by illegal machine guns. Yet another illustration that gun control has no effect on criminal behavior.

Please note that the ban on the manufacture and sale of machine guns has nothing to do with the '1994 Assault Weapons Ban' that comes up for renewal next year. That ban has no bearing on fully automatic firearms.