The AR-15 is the most popular hunting rifle in America. So much for the theory that “assault weapons are only good for killing humans.” Also, since there are approximately 20 million Ar-15s owned in the US, making that rifle the single most popular firearm in America. The AR-15 is in common use, meaning that banning it would be unconstitutional under the Heller decision.

One thing I take from the article:

Of that total, around 741,000 are fully automatic machine guns registered in the US, up from almost 457,000 in 2010, per ATF reports.

Since the registry has been closed to privately held machine guns since 1986, that entire increase has to be dealer samples and police machine guns. I can’t see more than 300,000 dealer samples, so that must mean cops have greatly increased their inventories.

Categories: Guns

7 Comments

Big Ruckus D · August 6, 2022 at 12:42 pm

Great. So now the pork patrol can spray and pray with full auto, all while using taxpayer funded ammunition. On the other hand, anyone else recall early last month when police departments were crying publicly about the price of gas destroying their budgets? So, maybe once they piss away their current ammo inventories, they might find it difficult to replenish. We can certainly hope that’s the case.

Jonathan · August 6, 2022 at 12:58 pm

Actually, the number of licensed manufacturers and the number of post sample machine guns HAS exploded in the last decade.
More and more small dealers are getting licensed as manufacturers and taking advantage of the opportunity to make or buy “posties” as a work around to the 86 ban, assisted by ATF rules that a manufacturer going out of business can sell their machine guns without an LE demo letter as normally required.
An easy example of the booming post sample market can be seen by browsing the machine gun section of GunBroker.

    Divemedic · August 6, 2022 at 1:34 pm

    So you are saying that one out of every three MGs is a post sample? Not saying you are wrong, that just seems to be very high.

      Jonathan · August 7, 2022 at 7:41 pm

      There is a HUGE volume of post sample MGs being made and sold.
      Almost every MG available at a rental range is a post sample; some of the big ranges have hundreds.
      20 years ago there were about 1,000 licensed manufacturers in the country; today it’s over 20,000. The new ATF regs on home made guns actively encourage more dealers to register as manufacturers.
      Also, any MG imported for the military is counted, since the exemption to listing for military contracts only applies to domestic production.

      I’d be interested in a breakdown of how many post samples are in military hands, how many are in police/ LE hands, and how many are in dealer/ manufacturer hands.

      If you look at pre-samples, imported between 1968 and 1986, they outnumber transferables, IIRC about 275,000 to about 170,000.
      The number of transferables is TINY in the grand scheme of things.

Steve S · August 6, 2022 at 6:25 pm

How many are MIL surplus handed over to LE?

    Jonathan · August 7, 2022 at 11:02 am

    None; those are still on property books, not on the NFTR. They can only be transferred to another participating agency or back to the unit they came from (in theory; in reality they won’t take them back)

      Divemedic · August 7, 2022 at 11:54 am

      Not according to the BATFE(pdf warning):
      3.2.2 Registration by State and local agencies. To be lawfully possessed by States and political subdivisions of the States (for example, local police departments), NFA firearms must be registered in the NFRTR.

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