As new information continues to emerge from the horrific shooting in Las Vegas that reportedly killed 58 and wounded more than 500, one aspect of the crime seems clear.
Whatever type of weapon the shooter used among his reported stash of as many as 10 rifles, at least one of them was fully-automatic: Audio from witnesses clearly shows the shooter was firing at a rate impossible for even the most skilled shooters with specialized triggers.
That points to a weapon designed to shoot in full-auto mode, known as a “select fire” weapon. What’s more, a rough count on some of the audio shows a string of fire well beyond that of a rifle equipped with a standard 30-round magazine.
First thing’s first: A “semi-automatic” weapon is one that shoots only one round for every pull of the trigger. News outlets often conflate those types of weapons with “automatic” firearms that are able to fire in a mode that can dump an entire magazine of rounds with a single pull of the trigger. Semi-automatic rifles—from small, .22 caliber pistols to .308 hunting rifles—are perfectly legal in all states for civilians to purchase.
Automatic rifles, on the other hand, are severely restricted and exceedingly rare.
While obtaining firearms for a typical civilian is relatively straightforward after applying for and obtaining a clean federal background check at a retailer, buying a full-auto firearm is incredibly difficult for a number of reasons.
First, fully-automatic weapons are subject to the 1934 National Firearms Act—a law established in reaction to the Prohibition-era crime wave that, among other things, imposed strict registration requirements for ownership of machine guns. Purchasers of automatic weapons are subject to a deeper background check by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and must be fingerprinted and notify local law enforcement of their purchase.
Additionally, those weapons may not be moved out of the purchaser’s state without notifying the ATF before the guns cross a border.
The law also mandated a $200 tax on each purchase, which in 1934 was a prohibitive sum. While that may not seem like much these days, it remains an added disincentive for purchases of firearms and accessories on the NFA list.
But what might be the biggest impediment to obtaining full-auto firearms—and perhaps explains why they are so exceedingly rare among gun owners, and even more rarely used in crimes—is that their manufacture for civilian purchase has been banned since 1986.
This restriction was attached to a law that was actually designed to protect gun owners and federally licensed firearms dealers who were being harassed by the ATF in the 1970s and 1980s. The Firearms Owners Protection Act made sure gun owners could transport their firearms and ammunition across states lines and allowed firearms dealers to sell rifles and shotguns to out-of-state purchasers.
But nestled in the FOPA bill was a restriction on the sale to civilians of full-auto weapons. These firearms could still be made by weapons companies, but they could be sold only to military units or law enforcement agencies.
What that means is that there are now zero full-auto weapons available for private purchase that were made after 1986. This supply issue has put a premium on the price, with costs ranging well into the $20,000 realm.
You may hear about so-called “full auto kits” that can convert a semi-automatic rifle into a full-auto one. Such kits do exist, but they fall under the same machine gun restrictions from the 1986 FOPA bill—meaning that the only people allowed by law to install those parts are those licensed by the ATF as machine gun manufacturers—and those firearms may not be sold to anyone other than a military or law enforcement agency.
The contention, if true, that the Las Vegas shooter used a full-auto firearm in his crime makes the act even more mind boggling than other tragic mass shootings. It means that the shooter somehow had access to extraordinarily rare and difficult-to-obtain weapons.
Christian Lowe is a firearms industry expert and competitive shooter.
