What would it take to reverse the machine gun ban of 1986?

The quick and easy answer is for Congress to repeal of the Hughes Amendment to the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 (FOPA). In order to understand the reason for this, a bit of background is in order. read more

To reverse the machine gun ban of 1986 would require somebody to first, win the PowerMillions or MegaBall, one of the massive lottery prizes, once it gets close to One Billion Dollars. Two, they’ll have to either make, build, or attempt to register a machine gun that’s illegal. read more

But one gun ban has stayed on the books: a measure Congress passed a quarter-century ago making it illegal for civilians to buy or sell any machine gun made from that date forward. That legislation passed with the blessing of the National Rifle Association, which now opposes gun control measures. read more

In 1986, Congress passed a ban on buying and selling machine guns made from then on — with the blessing of none other than the National Rifle Association. Gun law experts say the law was more significant than it seemed at the time. read more

Congress could repeal the Hughes Amendment that resulted in the closure of the registry to new machine gun registrations. But that is a long hill to climb and it would be difficult for two reasons: Anti-gun groups; Existing machine gun owners; Yes, if you tried to reopen the registry, you’d have these two groups in unholy alliance. read more