Posted on 03/28/2016 5:04:34 AM PDT by rktman
“Frankly I don’t see why full auto weapons are banned, they are less deadly.”
That is an easy one. They were banned because not many people had them, for the reasons you give. So there was little support to stop the proposed “tax” system pushed hard by the full power of the FDR regime.
They are banned because FDR was able to push it through.
Originally, the ban was only for full autos transported across state lines. Later on, the Supreme Court kept on mutilating the meaning of the commerce clause to include everything, so it came to apply to all full autos, even those kept inside a single state’s boundaries.
Unless, of course, there is actually a fire.
It needs to be tightened up!
Maybe they were banned to restrict the capabilities of paramilitary organizations that might well use them for suppressive fire against police or military, in other words, the mob.
Organized crime did use a few full auto guns, but the uses were very small in number. All the ones that I know about were guns that were stolen, so it made little difference.
I have studied the 1934 law, and as best I can see, it was a blatant power grab by the FDR administration, that missed its main mark, but set the tone for much wider spread infringements on the Second Amendment.
It was intended to register and eventually eliminate pistols from private ownership.
It failed at that, but managed to pass the stupid law that has been in place since 1934.
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