Where's the television loophole for Automatics?

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bigalexe

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OK as everyone knows you can't get new machine guns.

However in a few instances I have seen discovery channel and even the history channel fire what have to be full auto firearms produced after '86. The first time I've seen this was years ago on Monster Garage and later on Mythbusters I think where they used a Minigun, usually mounted on a vehicle. Now both of these instances I'm willing to pass off as video editing with a prop because I trust Discovery very little anymore. Also if it helps Monster Garage wrecked a car with it and Mythbusters tried to shoot fish in a barrel with it.

Second major instance was Lock N Load the Handgun episode on the History Channel. They featured a select-fire, full-auto Glock pistol and also implied heavily (without explicitly stating it) it was owned by the guest who was a competitive shooter.

Also by all appearances these performances were not under direct supervision of the Military, ATF, or FBI so I'm not letting it go as a demonstration.

Ok what am I missing?
 
I think where they used a Minigun, usually mounted on a vehicle. Now both of these instances I'm willing to pass off as video editing with a prop
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Plenty of pre-86 M134's. Last time I saw one for sale, it was $42,000. But then you have to feed it...........

And as quiet said, SOT dealers.
 
bigalexe wrote:
Second major instance was Lock N Load the Handgun episode on the History Channel. They featured a select-fire, full-auto Glock pistol and also implied heavily (without explicitly stating it) it was owned by the guest who was a competitive shooter.
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I just got ahold of the first season of Lock n Load after seeing a couple episodes on TV. Hope they make more seasons, really like that show. I just watched the episode on pistols (episode 4) and I got the impression that the Glock 18 shown is owned by Glock, she just uses it for competitions since she's sponsored by Glock. I highly doubt she owns it. Obviously, manufacturers of automatic firearms are allowed to own their own products, otherwise the BATFE would have to assign agents to stand around the assembly line and grab every weapon that rolled off, which would complicate packaging and shipping to whatever military/LE agency had ordered the lot.
 
I was recently able to fire two miniguns. They were both owned and operated by Dillion representatives; of course they have a vested interest in letting us test their gear because they want to sell us merchandise. The reps said the mini guns are over $80,000 each.

Dang they were crazy sweet to shoot.

I was also able to fire a lot of other goodies. The SCARs were of course owned by FN, and they want a contract. The other stuff is captured bringbacks kept by the unit.

See my earlier thread for pictures.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=476595
 
Also by all appearances these performances were not under direct supervision of the Military, ATF, or FBI so I'm not letting it go as a demonstration.
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Actually, MythBusters does a lot of their stuff coordinating with local and federal LEO. Especially all of the "blow stuff up" experiments. I just watched one the other day where they even had a Helitac Wildland Fire crew on standby to put out the fire in the hills when they made something blow up big.

Also, they do a lot of the machinegun episodes with LEO present, or reps. from the companies manufacturing the firearms. It's not like they just rent a Minigun, take it to the desert and blast things.
 
I recall that Dillon was listed in the credits of the Mythbusters shooting fish in a barrel episode.
 
You can rent the use of machineguns at certain ranges in Las Vegas, as entertainment. They are owned by Class II and III dealers or manufacturers.
 
mythbusters has a good relationship with many police departments and firearms dealers/manufacturers so they "borrow" alot of cool toys for different purposes and always under supervision of the owner of said weapon (just cause ya dont see them on camera doesnt mean they are not there)

no video editing at all there are pleanty of agencies that own miniguns both new and old

what your failing to understand is that a PRIVATE citizen is no longer allowed to own and operate a full auto machine gun but there are still companies that manufature said devices where do you think they sell them? the military only buys limited quantities at a time so where do the rest go? alot of times they get registered to different organizations to use as dealer samples

a dealer sample does not have to be used strictly for demonstration in the context that you are thinking

in the case of monster garage the minigun used was brought to the production crew through an arsonal company out of california so basicly they borrowed it

mythbusters "barrowed" the one they used from the military

on Lock and Load the shooter you are refering to is Jesse Abot
Jesse Abot does not own that glock 18
glock does shes a competition shooter for glock and as an "employee" of the company that owns the firearm she may have it in her possetion and shoot it in any compatition that will allow her to do so (which i dont believe there are many) mainly she will shoot demonstrations with it

i understand the confusion (and in my own personal case frustration for not just being allowed to own full auto) but what applies to an individual person may or may not apply to an organization and thats honestly the reason you see these modern full auto firearms on tv shows same goes alot of times for movies if its not just a fancy prop

all in all even our military boys and girls like to show off what we got
 
It's TV. Nothing real about it.
"...Dillion representatives..." Mike Dillon got into the reloading business to feed his own toys. He's one of, if not the only, civilian who owns armed aircraft and other slick rich guy's toys. The guy only has one kidney too.
"...Mythbusters..." Wouldn't let those two near a cap gun. Jamie's, the "firearm expert", claim to expertise is having grown up on a farm. They have real firearms people keeping them out of trouble and they still have no idea. Ever see the show where they fired a shotgun into a big tube of water? The twits were astounded when the bottom blew out. Dangerous idiots, both of them.
 
what your failing to understand is that a PRIVATE citizen is no longer allowed to own and operate a full auto machine gun
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Live in a bubble much?

You can own all the Fully automatic weapons you can afford.

The problem is that, since 1986, you could no longer import or register NEW fully autos. You can still transfer any weapon that was registered before that point...

So, as time has gone on, and the older guns break, the supply gets smaller, but the demand stays the same, causing the price to skyrocket.

Take a look here, at some Civilian-legal offerings:
http://www.impactguns.com/store/machineguns.html

You could buy any of those.. just pay the $200 tax.
 
The fact that wealthy private collectors can buy $600 guns for $21,000 is still essentially an all out ban. Couple that with the fact that some local LEO will simply not sign off on it even in legal jurisdictions, in which case the other process involves a lawyer and creating a creating a trust. He's not far out to say that a private citizen is no longer allowed to own and operate a machine gun. Not a whole lot of people have twenty grand to blow on a gun.
 
^
I agree...

There seems to be a tactic that the Government infringes on a right, but leaves only a VERY NARROW loophole so they can claim it isnt a ban.

Lets not buy that B.S. - To test my theory. If full auto AK rifles were / and always were / available in the U.S.; how many of us would own a semi auto sporter version?.......
 
Probably a very, very small amount. Inexpensive, stamped guns are like the AK are downright hilarious at $20,000. Nearly all the value is from demand/regulations/politics. Even semi auto sporters for $450 are at that price due to regulations and demands. I remember reading somewhere that it costs $13 to manufacture a MAC-10?

The other day someone was saying he liked his AR-15 because "our troops put their lives on it" and I was sure to remind him, no they don't :) They have REAL AR-15/M16's/M4's.

We're driving V6 Mustangs, guys. Let's be real.
 
THE DARK KNIGHT said:
The other day someone was saying he liked his AR-15 because "our troops put their lives on it" and I was sure to remind him, no they don't :) They have REAL AR-15/M16's/M4's.

We're driving V6 Mustangs, guys. Let's be real.
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That might be true regarding the capability of the weapons per se, but if you want to be real then I think anything other than semiautomatic fire is a waste of ammo under most circumstances.
 
I think anything other than semiautomatic fire is a waste of ammo under most circumstances.
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Automatic fire has many uses, including suppressive fire, breaching, etc. Does a civilian have need for these things? No. I have no need to go 120 MPH either but I sure as hell wouldn't mind owning a Ferrari.
 
I have a friend that I grew up with and he is a retired city pollce officer as well as a firearms dealer that can sell fully auto weapons.

He has offered me several different weapons for less than $1,000 each. Of course there is a $200 tax to pay each time the gun changes hands and about a six month check out time by the Feds.

Whie owning a fully auto weapon would be fun on the range, it is too limited for my desires and too expensive to afford to shoot.
 
anything other than semiautomatic fire is a waste of ammo under most circumstance
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It is a waste of ammo at rifle distances (unless it is a belt-fed on a tripod). It is not a waste of ammo at handgun distances, where a full-auto rifle or subgun is a really good way to put something down in a hurry.
 
A lot of filming is done in Canada. In Canada there is a special license one can get to own brand new machineguns for purposes of movie making. Basically it's a Prohibited Class License with a couple addendums.

In the US, it's entirely possible that the studio has ownership of the weapons or that they've been in possession of the weapons since pre-86. Also keep in mind that the NYPD has a special film division. I wouldn't hesitate to believe that they can lend out weapons for filming for the purposes of accurately depicting themselves on film.
 
The other day someone was saying he liked his AR-15 because "our troops put their lives on it" and I was sure to remind him, no they don't They have REAL AR-15/M16's/M4's.
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Hmmmm. Well, they have "REAL" M-16s and M-4s, built by the lowest bidder, often well over 20 years old, and ranging from well-maintained to ... not.

There is no question that a U.S. Marine can finish his enlistment, turn in his M-4, rotate home, and walk into a gun shop and purchase an AR-15 from Noveske or LMT or Daniel Defense, or maybe Colt, or, or... and own a FAR higher quality weapon than the one he served with.

The only "negative" difference will be not having the selector that goes to the third click. And, he was trained to not use that third setting 98% of the time anyway.

-Sam
 
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