WEAPONS CHARGES ?????
Yes. According to the NC Times article,
U.S. prosecutors were aggressive in their charges against the guards. They used an anti-machine gun law to attach 30-year mandatory prison sentences to the charges. And though they can't say for sure exactly which guards shot which victims, all five guards are charged with 14 counts of manslaughter.
I think this charge stems from a drug law that stiffens the penalities when a machine gun is used in the commission of a crime.
Blackwater Guards May Be Prosecuted Under US Drug Law The incident happened in Iraq, not the US. Machine guns are necessary for their job. Yet prosecutors have the audacity to tack on this charge. It is over-reach.