Enjoying the Hobby of Collecting Machineguns - Essay Example

The machine gun has had a checkered history and was invented in the mid nineteenth century by Dr. Richard Jordon Gatling, whose weapon came to be known as the Gatling gun. He patented his invention in 1861. The Gatling gun was the first rapid firing gun and can be rightly called the ancestor of the modern machine gun. Dr Gatling said “ it occurred to me that if I could invent a machine-a gun- which could by its rapidity of fire, enable , one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies and consequently , exposure to battle and disease would be greatly decreased.

”2 People have been collecting guns all over the world for decades. It is akin to people collecting swords. But now a new hobby has emerged of collecting machine guns. In most countries in the world, owning a machine gun is illegal, but in the United States 34 states of the union, it is legal for citizens to own and shoot with machine guns. In case you wish to start a hobby as a machine gun collector than please insure that the state you reside allows you to own a machine gun as many states like Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Washington State and the district of Columbia, have a total ban on privately owned machine guns.

However despite the above a quarter of a million Americans own machine guns. The National Firearms Act 1934 is the nodal act that governs collection of Machine Guns for any purpose or as a hobby. Before 1934, there was no bar on owning machine guns, but the NFA passed in 1934 made it mandatory to register the weapon with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire arms (BATF)3.. Machine guns by and large have never been used in a crime as the procedure for owning a machine gun is very stringent. It must be noted that machine guns cannot be purchased across the counter and a lengthy period from 60to180