Hello,
nice pictures of nice things. I have a question. I am a bit confused by the laws of arms in the U.S. Is it allowed to have assault rifles as a civilian? The second ad of the constitution allows the people to be armed but does it allow people to have military weapons?
take care
Ghostrider
My friend... in the USA if you do you're paper work properly and pay your taxes you can own artillery pieces and tanks. Some places in the USA are more restrictive (Cities and some States) and there are federal (National Government) laws that restrict ownership on some items but pretty much we can own what we want except nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons.
Machine Guns that were made before May of 1986 can be legally owned by Americans in most places. Semi-Automatic rifles are 99% legal in most places, same with pistols and shotguns. We have a couple of oddball laws.
Rifles cannot have barrels shorter then 16 inches and the weapon must not have a overall length shorter then 26 inches when stocks are extended. Shotguns are the same except the barrel must be 18 inches or longer. Pistols cannot have stocks attached to them. If they do then they are "short barreled rifles" and thus illegal. Anything over a .50 Caliber is illegal unless it is a shotgun or a muzzle loading firearm or antique firearm.
Machine Guns, Short Barreled Rifles, Short Barreled Shotguns, Suppressors, Destructive Devices (20mm Rifles, Grenades, Non-Muzzle Loading Artillery, Tanks cannons, etc.), and AOWs (Any Other Weapon, stuff like pen guns and cane guns) can be owned if a special federal form is filled out, a $200 tax is paid, the federal government approves of the transfer, and your local jurisdiction allows such ownership.
The last few years has been a game changer. The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of gun owners that the right to keep and bear arms is a "Fundamental" right and as such the laws that regulate guns and their ownership are going to be looked at more closely now. A lot of restrictions are going to be lifted through legal action. Even the May 1986 Machine Gun ban might be taken to court because of the Supreme Court ruling.
In California, it was just ruled in court that the issuing agent of weapon carry permits must accept "Self Defense" as a legal reason for a carry permit. In California, they are very restrictive on their permits and have always held that you need a "documented" reason for a permit. Such as police reports of someone stalking you or attacking you. They never simply accepted that you wish to carry a pistol for self defense as a legal reason. But that's slowly changing.
The New Jersey "Assault Weapon Ban" is being challenged in court now. Their ban is very restrictive and most of the country allows the ownership of the guns that NJ outlaws.
In the end.... it's all changing for the better here in the USA. Even in my state of Florida; we are fighting for open carry of firearms. We can carry them concealed with a permit but since 1987 we have not been able to openly carry them. Our new governor said that he is in support of open carry and we're going to pressure our state legislation to pass a bill for the governor to sign.
