[rintense]

Wait a second. An assault rifle is banned, but a rapid fire 'spray' automatic weapon isn't? What the fark is up with that?

[dinodino]

Full-auto weapons are legal. Yep. Read it again: they're legal. Quite expensive, as the tax stamp was $500 per gun the last time I checked, and the guns themselves sell for thousands. Again, only corporations and collectors/enthusiasts own these.

[dinodino]

I should clarify: full-auto weapons brought into the U.S. after 1986 (I believe) may not be transferred to individuals--only law enforcement and manufacturers.

[Henrietta]

"Wait a second. An assault rifle is banned, but a rapid fire 'spray' automatic weapon isn't? What the fark is up with that?"

No, "assault rifles" are not banned; you just can't make any more of them here in the US, nor can you buy any which were made overseas, (someone help me out here if I've missed somehting) which means that after the post-1986 guns are used up, they are gone forever.

And keep in mind that you have to go thru a very rigorous criminal background check and pay a big tax to even buy a machine gun. A machine gun is one that fires as long as you have your finger pressing the trigger.

The "assault weapons" they are trying to ban are just one shot per trigger rifles. They just call these rifles "assault weapons" to make nice people like you (no offense intended here, I just mean people who don't know much about guns, which is just about everyone) think that there ought be a reason why they should be banned, since they must be used for "assaulting" others.