The Hughes Amendment to the 1986 Firearm Owners Protection Act prohibits the manufacture of new machine guns for non-law enforcement users. It grandfathers in all of the machine guns that were registered by May 1985 and has been an absolute gold mine for the owners of these guns. You can see many advertisements in any issue of Shotgun News asking to purchase any and all legal automatic weapons.
A law enforcement agency can buy a fully automatic rifle or sub-machine gun for less than $1000 but a legal pre-1986 comparable weapon is worth $10-12,000. The value is in the legality, all you need is the receiver and the buyer can get all the other parts for a small cost.
Here’s the good part. Because these guns are so valuable, they cause very little trouble. The owners tend to be responsible and have insurance, etc. They keep them well secured and few are stolen. All and all, the situation with automatic weapons in non law enforcement hands is just what we should have for guns in general.
So let’s just stop the manufacture and import of new guns. This will be great for gun owners because the value of their holdings and collections will skyrocket. There are plenty of guns already out there, so it won’t stop anyone who actually needs a gun for hunting or protection.
Millions of people who have guns from their past but don’t actually want them now will see the increased prices and sell them. This will decrease the number of suicides substantially. The increase in value will make owners lock them up much more securely and reduce accidents. If a gun looses it’s legal status by illegal sale or otherwise, it will loose a great deal of value. This will work to discourage diversions.
Now, some will say this will deny gun rights to the poor; but I’m only willing to listen to that argument from people who have a long track record of advocating for the financial advancement of poor people around issues other than guns.