CLAIM: In a May 16, 2025, article, NBC News claimed, “Machine guns have been illegal in the United States since 1986.”
VERDICT: False. Machine guns are bought and sold regularly in states where the possession of machine guns is legal.
When NBC News references “1986,” they are referencing the year when the Firearm Owners Protection Act was signed into law. One aspect of FOPA banned the sale of machine guns manufactured after the law’s effective date, which was May 19, 1986. However, FOPA did not (and does not) ban the sale of machine guns manufactured before May 19, 1986.
The ATF’s website makes clear that the machine guns that are legal are “those lawfully possessed before the effective date of the prohibition, May 19, 1986.”
There is a cumbersome process for buying a machine gun, as they fall under the auspices of the National Firearms Act (1934), and prices can be exorbitant, which is due the limited number of pre-May 19, 1986, machine guns available on market. But machine guns from the pre-May 19, 1986 era are available for purchase around the country at this very moment.
NBC News claimed, “Machine guns have been illegal in the United States since 1986,” and that claim is false.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly:
