The National Firearms Act strictly regulating machine guns was first enacted in 1934, and since updated.įederal legislation called the Firearm Owners Protection Act made it illegal to sell, transfer or own any automatic weapons manufactured after 1986 - essentially ending production of any new fully automatic guns for civilians after that year.Ĭivilian ownership of a fully automatic gun requires an extensive background checks, several special taxes and deep pockets due to the scarcity of weapons made before the ban on new production.Īccording to a 2017 report by the ATF, there were 630,000 fully automatic weapons, classified as machine guns, inn the U.S. It also opens the door to federal prosecution.īy itself, the penalty for having an unregistered fully automatic gun under The National Firearms Act is up to 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both. Illegally posessing or using a fully automatic gun carries stiff federal penalties. Why the weapon being fully automatic matters The Clarion Ledger has made verbal and public records requests to determine what type of guns were, how many were found, whether they were modified and how Egbert acquired the weapons. MBI also declined to confirm whether the weapons were fully automatic, instead referring questions to the district attorney's office. Bramlett did not return multiple calls at either of his Madison and Rankin county offices for further clarification after his comments Friday. MBI took possession of the weapons and is the lead agency in the case. Haar said his office is assisting the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. But he agreed the use and recovery of a fully automatic would be "very unusual." Robert Haar, resident agent in charge of the Jackson ATF field office, wouldn't confirm or deny whether fully automatic weapons had been recovered. A weapon like that can become a mass shooting in a second," Marianos said.
"This would also be a big deal for law enforcement in that they got a weapon of war off the streets. "If it's a fully automatic, this would be extremely, extremely, extremely rare," said Rich Marianos, the former assistant director of the ATF’s office of public and governmental affairs and a 27-year veteran of the department. 'Would be extremely rare,' ATF saysĪ former assistant director of the ATF on Monday noted how unusual it is for law enforcement to come across fully automatic firearms in the field. But officials involved in the investigation would not provide further details. When asked to clarify if the weapons were fully automatic or semi-automatic, Hall responded with "Full" in a text message. Hall said authorities recovered two fully automatic rifles at the scene of the shootout. It's a distinction Heath Hall, sheriff's department spokesman, also made on Monday. Madison County District Attorney John Bramlett, speaking after Egbert's initial court appearance on Friday, referred to a weapon used as a "fully automatic weapon" that resulted in "a barrage of gunfire." The alleged shooter in the case, Edgar Egbert, used the weapons to shoot repeatedly at deputies, striking several police cruisers and one deputy in the head and another in the arm, officials said. In contrast, a semi-automatic firearm fires one round with each trigger-pull. In three of those instances the weapons were legally obtained, with two of them illegally used by law enforcement officers.Īn automatic firearm continuously fires rounds as long as the trigger is depressed and there is ammunition in the magazine. semiautomatic weapons used in crimes exist, since 1934 there are only four known instances of automatic weapons used in crimes where someone was killed. While no statistics detailing automatic vs.
It is extremely unusual for a fully automatic weapon to be used in a crime, especially one involving a shootout with law enforcement, according to both state and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials. The Madison County shooter who critically wounded one deputy and injured another in a shootout with law enforcement Thursday was equipped with two fully automatic rifles, two officials said. Watch Video: Canton mayor discusses Madison County deputies shooting