Machine guns are not illegal. Select fire rifles are prohibitively expensive and require a tax stamp, but they aren’t illegal.
That explains how Kid Rock legally possessed a machine gun to blow apart a case of Budweiser.
I got to fire a legally owned Thompson once. My friend’s FIL was a big collector. It was quite an experience.
It’s also a state issue, and they are illegal in many states. I don’t know about NC in 2002, but I’d presume those were state charges. Either there wasn’t a felony conviction in those 100 charges filed, or this gun was bought illegally.
The tax stamp / license is very difficult to get, or so I've heard. It's not like the ATF 4 form, for purchasing a silencer, that I've seen at many gun stores.
You are correct. I assume the machine gun, if there actually was one, was in his possession without the tax stamp and required paperwork. I think this story is BS. I can't imagine a guy with this kind of police record actually getting the approval from a routine background check and then pay the tax. In my area, he would not pass a background check to purchase a hand gun. The machine gun was likely black market and unregistered.
Dec 16, 2002
An armed man was arrested Monday morning after barricading himself in a business during a three-hour standoff, police said.
Ryan Routh, 36, was arrested without incident at 1 a.m. Monday at United Roofing, 1735 W. Lee St., Greensboro police said.Routh was pulled over about 10 p.m. Sunday during a traffic stop, police said. But he put his hand on a firearm and drove to United Roofing, where he remained barricaded inside, police said.
Routh was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a weapon of mass destruction, referring to a fully automatic machine gun. He was also charged with resisting, delaying and obstructing a law enforcement officer and driving while license revoked.
“UNREGISTERED” machineguns regardless of caliber or configuration are illegal ... and as of 1986, BATF is not allowed to issue new registrations.
All of which, of course, is repugnant to the Constitution.