- In 1986, Ronald Reagan signed a bill banning civilian purchases of new machine guns.
- Semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15 (fires 45 rounds/minute) are often mistakenly referred to as machine guns (600-800 rounds/minute).
- From rural Missouri, Frank Goepfert is one of the largest sellers of used machine guns.
- He gets the guns from former military and collectors.
- Buyers must go through extensive paperwork and checks (wait up to 6 months).
- As the number of functioning machine guns continues to decline, the prices of those remaining continue to rise.
