NBC Information Claims Machine Weapons Have Been Unlawful Since 1986

CLAIM: In a Could 16, 2025, article, NBC Information claimed, “Machine weapons have been unlawful in america since 1986.”

VERDICT: False. Machine weapons are purchased and bought repeatedly in states the place the possession of machine weapons is authorized.

When NBC Information references “1986,” they’re referencing the 12 months when the Firearm Homeowners Safety Act was signed into regulation. One side of FOPA banned the sale of machine weapons manufactured after the regulation’s efficient date, which was Could 19, 1986. Nevertheless, FOPA didn’t (and doesn’t) ban the sale of machine weapons manufactured earlier than Could 19, 1986.

The ATF’s web site makes clear that the machine weapons which might be authorized are “these lawfully possessed earlier than the efficient date of the prohibition, Could 19, 1986.”

There’s a cumbersome course of for purchasing a machine gun, as they fall underneath the auspices of the Nationwide Firearms Act (1934), and costs may be exorbitant, which is due the restricted variety of pre-Could 19, 1986, machine weapons out there on market. However machine weapons from the pre-Could 19, 1986 period can be found for buy across the nation at this very second.

NBC Information claimed, “Machine weapons have been unlawful in america since 1986,” and that declare is fake.