The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - How many transferable machine guns on the registry?

ScottRiqui · March 23, 2013, 12:14 AM

I was talking to a friend the other day, and I pointed out that legally-owned machine guns aren't really a concern, crime-wise, since their criminal use is almost negligible. He then asked the (reasonable, in my opinion) question "why don't we just regulate ALL firearms in the same way as the NFA items?"

My response was that the rarity of their criminal use isn't because of the regulation, but rather because of the fact that there are very few of them, relative to the total number of firearms in the country, but I'd like to have actual numbers if they're available.

I remember hearing that there were something like 175,000 guns on the registry when it was closed in 1986, but I don't know if there have been any estimates made since then, or even if that was an accurate number to begin with.

March 23, 2013, 12:14 AM	#1
ScottRiqui Senior Member Join Date: January 27, 2010 Location: Norfolk, VA Posts: 2,905	How many transferable machine guns on the registry? I was talking to a friend the other day, and I pointed out that legally-owned machine guns aren't really a concern, crime-wise, since their criminal use is almost negligible. He then asked the (reasonable, in my opinion) question "why don't we just regulate ALL firearms in the same way as the NFA items?" My response was that the rarity of their criminal use isn't because of the regulation, but rather because of the fact that there are very few of them, relative to the total number of firearms in the country, but I'd like to have actual numbers if they're available. I remember hearing that there were something like 175,000 guns on the registry when it was closed in 1986, but I don't know if there have been any estimates made since then, or even if that was an accurate number to begin with.