San Jose was my first convention, only been a member of the MVPA for a year
or so now. I attended the MG seminar as well as 3 others: the MG was by far
the best IMHO.
I went there expecting (hoping) to leave with a set of plans to build my own
.50 cal replica machine gun for display on my DUKW. The seminar actually
centered around how a machine gun is "defined" under the law, and how
knowledge of that definition can help us "hobbyists" stay out of trouble
with the law when it comes to replica machine guns for display purposes on
our vehicles.
It was taught by a retired field agent from the BATF. Although I don't
remember his name, he was very professional, had good speaking ability, and
most importantly, knew the regulations and subject matter like the back of
his hand. He was able to explain everything very clearly, even to some
folks in the audience who thought they knew better.
Although my notes from the seminar are at home, the biggest points of the
seminar as I remember were:
Machine guns are legal to own provided they were registered before the ban.
The BATF takes machine guns very seriously!
You don't have to own an entire operable machine gun to be in trouble with
the law. Some (all?) machine guns have an identified major part, such as
the right side plate for a .30 cal MG, which, for the purposes of the law,
is the same as (or nearly the same as) having an operable machine gun.
If your going to build a replica MG for display, make sure it cannot be
easily converted to fire. We spent a lot of time discussing this subject,
basically how far away from "being able to fire" does one need to go? That
point is somewhat open to interpretation, but my sense from the seminar is
the farther away from "could be converted to fire" the better.
I am not into guns, so please take this quick synopsis as a newby's
observation of the seminar.
Mike Bennett 1944 DUKW
Fresno, Ca
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