A machine gun is a type of firearm that, if the trigger is held back, keeps firing rapidly until the magazine runs out of ammunition, the user lets go of the trigger, or it jams. Up until 1986, one could purchase a brand new machine gun, after paying a $200 tax and registering it with the government. Up until 1934, one could purchase it without any registration or background check requirement whatsoever.

The Thompson sub-machine gun was invented in 1918, weighed 10 pounds, and would come to be known as the “Chicago Typewriter,” because of the distinctive sound made when it was fired. It was invented by US Army Brigadier General John T. Thompson in order to break the stalemate of trench warfare during World War I. Chicago gangs found a use case in using it to terrorize citizens of their city during times when alcohol was prohibited by the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. When prohibition was repealed in 1933, Congress wanted to stop the general public from getting Thompsons.

The National Firearms Act was the first unconstitutional bill regarding firearms to be passed into law in 1934. It was drafted in response to Chicago gang violence during prohibition, and aimed to make the Thompson unaffordable for all but the most wealthy Americans. Since the cost of the Thompson was a little under $200 in 1933, Congress decided on $200 as a 100% tax on the Thompson. In today’s money, that amount would be well north of $4,000. Today, the NFA also restricts items like suppressors, which lower the sound level of a gunshot to more comfortable, less damaging levels. As an aside, shooting a gun without hearing protection or a suppressor will cause instant, permanent hearing damage.

The Hughes amendment was an 11th hour add-on to the NRA-backed Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986. Up until 1986, one could purchase a newly-made machine gun legally. You just had to pay the $200 tax, fill out some paperwork, submit a photo and fingerprints, and wait for your background check to come back. The 1986 FOPA with Hughes amendment made it illegal to purchase, manufacture, sell, or transfer any new select-fire or full automatic firearm. We must assume that the Hughes amendment snuffed out this technology in its infancy, and that without the National Firearms Act and Hughes amendment in place that most firearms now would have had select-fire as an option instead of only semi-automatic.

Because of this, we may never know if machine guns would be in common use today. Technological innovation was snuffed out by extreme gun control, and today the Hughes amendment has been used as a template for things such as the “assault weapons” ban of 1994, state-level “assault weapons” bans, and magazine capacity restrictions. It is time to repeal the unconstitutional National Firearms Act and Hughes amendment. These bills have infringed on Americans’ Second Amendment rights for too long now. We must get past the ill-conceived notion that the Second Amendment protects only small handguns for self-defense. We must do away with the notion that full automatic firearms have no place in society, or in defensive use scenarios, especially where multiple attackers may be involved. It was wrong in 1934, in 1986, and it is wrong now.