Legal machine guns rare often seen as investments
Legal machine guns rare often seen as investments
Legal machine guns rare, often seen as investments
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/21/07
Randy Powell has a .50-caliber machine gun he would like to sell you -- but he can't afford to.
The monster, sitting in a cage in back of his gun store and shooting range in Lawrenceville, can cut down a tree and could easily fetch $30,000 in a perfectly legal sale. But for Powell, the sale would be the equivalent of hawking a Picasso or vintage wine.
The gun increases in value exponentially each year.
"I bought that gun for $10,000 about 10 years ago," he said. "I could make a lot of money if I sold it but it's an investment more than anything. There is no wholesale market. If I want another one, I may have to pay more than that."
If Clifford Harris Jr., the budding hip-hop mogul known as T.I., had lived a more law-abiding life, he could have used his fortune to legally buy the .50-caliber, the silencers, the M60, Uzis or other machine guns that Powell has in his shop. "It is a real adventure to shoot it," said Robert Thornton, a machine-gun expert, of the .50-caliber. "You can hear the bullets strike the target 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 yards away."
Instead, Harris is facing federal charges that include illegally possessing three machine guns and two silencers and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He pleaded not guilty to the weapons charges in court on Friday.
Most people, while they have the right, don't have the ability to buy a machine gun like Powell's. For instance, a Heckler & Koch MP5K machine pistol would fetch $15,000 on the civilian market, Powell said.
"It is doctors and lawyers -- and other people with big money -- who buy them," Powell said. "You don't have thugs owning machine guns -- unless they're illegal ones -- and an illegal machine gun is only worth 10 years in jail."
That is because it is the law -- not the manufacturing costs -- that drive the price. The federal government has outlawed the manufacture of machine guns for the civilian market in the United States since 1986. Only machine guns that were legally owned by civilians before that year can be sold privately.
Steve Hardin, vice president for political action for the Georgia Sports Shooting Association, said there are about 100,000 legally owned machine guns in private hands in the United States. "I know people who have bought them and never shot them and watched them increase in value by $1,000 every year," he said.
After the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, the federal government began limiting the number of machine guns in civilian hands by making them cost prohibitive. Congress in 1934 passed a national firearm law that levied a $200 tax on the sale of licensed machine guns.
The tax enraged Second Amendment advocates, but it never increased, so over the years, the guns became affordable again. That changed in 1986 when a federal law banned the manufacture and sale of machine guns for the civilian market -- and again pushed the price of the guns out of range of middle-class buyers.
"They're sort of a hobby for the wealthy now," Thornton said.
Even if a customer has the money to buy one, the buyer has to agree to submit his photograph and fingerprints, have a thorough background check and secure a letter of approval from the police chief or sheriff where he or she lives.
Powell rents his machine guns to shooters in the indoor firing range of his gun shop, Bull's Eye, where the main cost to the customer is the ammunition. His customers range from curiosity seekers to full-automatic-shooting enthusiasts who can't afford to plop down $15,000 for their own gun, Powell said.
But even if there weren't legal hoops and cost, the machine gun's appeal would be limited even within the shooting community, Hardin said.
He said the guns have a stigma with the public -- even thought few, if any, legally owned ones have been involved in a crime.
The River Bend Gun Club in Dawson County, he said, won't allow any of its 2,000 members to shoot a machine gun on one of its ranges, especially since the guns are hard to shoot accurately, Hardin said.
"They want to look civilized," he said.
Legal machine guns rare, often seen as investments
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/21/07
Randy Powell has a .50-caliber machine gun he would like to sell you -- but he can't afford to.
The monster, sitting in a cage in back of his gun store and shooting range in Lawrenceville, can cut down a tree and could easily fetch $30,000 in a perfectly legal sale. But for Powell, the sale would be the equivalent of hawking a Picasso or vintage wine.
The gun increases in value exponentially each year.
"I bought that gun for $10,000 about 10 years ago," he said. "I could make a lot of money if I sold it but it's an investment more than anything. There is no wholesale market. If I want another one, I may have to pay more than that."
If Clifford Harris Jr., the budding hip-hop mogul known as T.I., had lived a more law-abiding life, he could have used his fortune to legally buy the .50-caliber, the silencers, the M60, Uzis or other machine guns that Powell has in his shop. "It is a real adventure to shoot it," said Robert Thornton, a machine-gun expert, of the .50-caliber. "You can hear the bullets strike the target 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 yards away."
Instead, Harris is facing federal charges that include illegally possessing three machine guns and two silencers and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He pleaded not guilty to the weapons charges in court on Friday.
Most people, while they have the right, don't have the ability to buy a machine gun like Powell's. For instance, a Heckler & Koch MP5K machine pistol would fetch $15,000 on the civilian market, Powell said.
"It is doctors and lawyers -- and other people with big money -- who buy them," Powell said. "You don't have thugs owning machine guns -- unless they're illegal ones -- and an illegal machine gun is only worth 10 years in jail."
That is because it is the law -- not the manufacturing costs -- that drive the price. The federal government has outlawed the manufacture of machine guns for the civilian market in the United States since 1986. Only machine guns that were legally owned by civilians before that year can be sold privately.
Steve Hardin, vice president for political action for the Georgia Sports Shooting Association, said there are about 100,000 legally owned machine guns in private hands in the United States. "I know people who have bought them and never shot them and watched them increase in value by $1,000 every year," he said.
After the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, the federal government began limiting the number of machine guns in civilian hands by making them cost prohibitive. Congress in 1934 passed a national firearm law that levied a $200 tax on the sale of licensed machine guns.
The tax enraged Second Amendment advocates, but it never increased, so over the years, the guns became affordable again. That changed in 1986 when a federal law banned the manufacture and sale of machine guns for the civilian market -- and again pushed the price of the guns out of range of middle-class buyers.
"They're sort of a hobby for the wealthy now," Thornton said.
Even if a customer has the money to buy one, the buyer has to agree to submit his photograph and fingerprints, have a thorough background check and secure a letter of approval from the police chief or sheriff where he or she lives.
Powell rents his machine guns to shooters in the indoor firing range of his gun shop, Bull's Eye, where the main cost to the customer is the ammunition. His customers range from curiosity seekers to full-automatic-shooting enthusiasts who can't afford to plop down $15,000 for their own gun, Powell said.
But even if there weren't legal hoops and cost, the machine gun's appeal would be limited even within the shooting community, Hardin said.
He said the guns have a stigma with the public -- even thought few, if any, legally owned ones have been involved in a crime.
The River Bend Gun Club in Dawson County, he said, won't allow any of its 2,000 members to shoot a machine gun on one of its ranges, especially since the guns are hard to shoot accurately, Hardin said.
"They want to look civilized," he said.
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