Fully automatic guns are 100% legal to own. They just need to be manufactured prior to 1986, and you have to pay the Feds a $200 tax when they change ownership.
100% spot on correct. Moreover, in all the time that Class III select fire/full auto firearms have been subject to strict regulation... in ALL that time, only ONE crime was committed by the holder of such a tax stamped authorized firearm. That individual was a police officer who had access to full auto anyway! Additionally, a new wrinkle has been added to the intrepretation of the McClure/Volkmer Act that prohibited new weapons produced after 1986. A study ascertained that the only part in the weapon subject to regulation was the SEAR, so now in a semi/full (select fire) auto type weapon only the SEAR need be registered under Class III regulations. So a few years ago, brand new H&K MP5's started appearing on the market in select fire versions and the SEAR was the registered part and had to have been of 1986 or prior manufacture.