From: maximusheadroom@gmx.com   
      
   Want a machine gun? These states might soon make buying one easier   
      
   Joseph MacKinnon   
      
   Republican lawmakers in West Virginia and Kentucky are working on making it   
   easier for Americans to acquire fully automatic firearms - a move that might   
   catch on in other red states.   
      
   Machine guns - defined by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and   
   Explosives as a firearm that can fire "automatically more than one shot,   
   without   
   manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger" - are heavily regulated   
   in the United States.   
      
   While such weapons can be privately owned, Americans are greatly limited in   
   what   
   they can buy and must jump through numerous hoops to seal the deal.   
      
   'This is our constitutional right.'   
      
   Per the Firearm Owners' Protection Act, civilians are barred from possessing a   
   machine gun manufactured after May 19, 1986. Limited supply means a higher   
   price - Silencer Central says that prospective buyers should expect to spend a   
   minimum of $6,000 to $10,000.   
      
   Interested American buyers at least 21 years of age, neither a felon nor a   
   fugitive, and living in a state without a machine gun ban must pass an AFT   
   background check, pay a one-time $200 transfer tax, and get approval from the   
   government in order to take possession. Once those hurdles are cleared, they   
   can   
   take the machine gun home but fire it only on closed target ranges.   
      
   In West Virginia, Republican state Sens. Chris Rose and Zack Maynard recently   
   introduced legislation that would establish within the West Virginia State   
   Police an office of public defense that would oversee the procurement and sale   
   of machine guns to "qualified members of the public," namely any citizen   
   presently eligible to purchase and possess firearms under West Virginia and   
   federal law.   
      
   The Cowboy State Daily reported that the new office would be authorized to   
   transfer newer machine guns to state residents.   
      
   Blaze News has reached out to state Sen. Rose for clarification about whether   
   out-of-state American citizens would be able to acquire a machine gun from the   
   proposed authority.   
      
   The preamble of the bill states both that "the Framers understood the Second   
   Amendment to guarantee armament parity between the American citizen and   
   government infantryman" and that "it is in the public interest of the State of   
   West Virginia and its people that American citizens be armed and better able to   
   assist in the defense of the State, and to resist tyranny, using bearable   
   firearms commonly used in modern warfare."   
      
   The legislation would ensure that machine guns made available to citizens in   
   the   
   state through the proposed office would "be the same as, or of like kind to,   
   those machineguns currently in use by law enforcement or the United States   
   Armed   
   Forces, and shall include but not be limited to AR-15/M16-platform, M249-type,   
   and MP5-type Machineguns."   
      
   Kentucky state Rep. TJ Roberts (R) has introduced a nearly identical bill that   
   would create a sub-office within the Kentucky State Police to acquire and   
   transfer guns to qualified Kentuckians.   
      
   Roberts stated on X, "Law-abiding Kentuckians should be able to own any type of   
   firearm they choose (including machine guns), as this is our constitutional   
   right."   
      
   The Kentucky version specifies that a "qualified person" is "a person who is   
   eligible to purchase and possess firearms under Kentucky and federal law." In   
   Kentucky, out-of-state residents who are U.S. citizens have the right to   
   purchase firearms.   
      
   Mark Jones, the national director of Gun Owners of America - the organization   
   that authored the bill - told Cowboy State Daily that similar legislation is   
   "doable in Wyoming" and that a Wyoming version of the bill might be introduced   
   next year.   
      
   "Prior to the session, I had discussions about it with Wyoming legislators, but   
   we didn't have enough time to draft a bill," Jones said. "We decided to focus   
   on   
   the four major (gun-related) bills that are now poised to pass in 2026 and   
   reconsider the 1071 concept next year."   
      
   While recognizing this legal approach as workable, George Mocsary, a law   
   professor at the University of Wyoming and director of the school's Firearms   
   Research Center, told the Cowboy State Daily that Congress might intervene and   
   overturn the proposed law if passed.   
      
   He noted, however, "If it works, I could totally see it catching on,   
   particularly here in Wyoming, and with our northern neighbors in Montana."   
      
   https://www.theblaze.com/news/want-a-machine-gun-these-states-mi   
   ht-soon-make-acquisition-easier   
      
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