While the news media often refers to firearms used in crime as “assault weapons,” “assault rifles,” or — in the case of anything resembling a TEC-9, MAC-10, or Uzi — “submachinegun,” the use of actual machineguns as defined by the National Firearms Act of 1934 is rare since its passage.
The Zelman Partisans is attempting to collect a list of confirmed crimes. These are instances of a machinegun being used in a crime (such as murder, carjacking, or robbery) other than mere possession or transfer.
Last updated September 17, 2023
CONFIRMED
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- 10/16/1981
Type: .30-caliber automatic weapon, .223 Rem.
Registered: No
Lawfully possessed: No
Circumstances: “The appellant has been sentenced to death for the murders of Roger Hatfield, Michael Halpert, Jarvey Hamilton, Rufus Hamilton and Roger Click. The appellant shot these men to death with an automatic rifle during a shooting spree at the Mountain Auto-Truck Parts Store in Allen, Kentucky, on October 16, 1981”
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 5 (Note: mass shooting) - 9/15/1988
Type: MAC-11 .380ACP submachinegun
Registered: Yes
Lawfully possessed:Yes
Circumstances: Dayton, Ohio police department, Patrolman Roger Waller, then 32, used his fully automatic MAC-11 .380 caliber smg to kill a police informant, 52-year-old Lawrence Hileman.
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 1 - 10/1991
Type: .22-caliber machine gun with silencer
Registered: No
Lawfully possessed: No
Circumstances: Post office shooting
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 4 (Note: mass shooting) - 2/28/1997
Type: Norinco Type 56 S-1s (2)
Registered: No
Lawfully possessed: No
Circumstances: Two bank robbers possessed AK-pattern weapons illegally modified for fully automatic operation.
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 0 - 9/6/2001
Type: MAK-90 rifle modified to fully automatic
Registered: No
Lawfully possessed: No
Circumstances: Perp shot up an IHOP restaurant in Carson City, NV.
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 4 dead, 7 wounded. - 4/2002
Type: MP5 submachinegun
Registered: Yes
Lawfully possessed: Yes
Circumstances: Police officer Edward Lutes went on a rampage with a police-issue MP5, killing 5 neighbors (in two separate homes), before killing himself with a handgun.
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 5 (Not a mass shooting as the victims were specifically targeted in their homes) - 10/2017
Type: MAC-10 submachinegun
Registered: No
Lawfully possessed: No
Circumstances: A convicted felon possessed a MAC-10, which he used to shoot his girlfriend.
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 0 - 1/11/2018
Type: Not Specified
Registered: No
Lawfully possessed: No
Circumstances: Car-jacking with a machinegun.
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 0 - 12/4/2019
Type: M4 service rifle
Registered: Yes
Lawfully possessed: Yes
Circumstances: On-duty sailor at Pearl Harbor shot three people, killing two, before killing himself with his issued M9 pistol.
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 2 - 10/10/2020
Type: appears to be an UZI submachinegun
Registered: No
Lawfully possessed: No
Circumstances: “When officers arrived, they saw Taylor standing outside with a fully-automatic machine gun and he immediately opened fire on the officers.” For giggles, he also had a cannon.
Fatalities: 0 - May 6, 2021
Type: M4 carbine
Registered: Yes
Lawfully possessed: Yes
Circumstances: Fort Jackson trainee hijacked a school bus using “his Army-issued rifle.” Sheriff Leon Lott of the RCSD confirmed to me that it was an M4 carbine.
Fatalities: None - June 24, 2021
Type: Unknown. Appears to be AR-pattern rifle
Registered: Unknown
Lawfully possessed: Unknown
Circumstances: Traffic shooting in Chicago, captured on dashcam. Two shooters jumped out of a car stopped for a red light. They begin firing at a car ahead of them, the first shooter with an automatic rifle. Apparently no one was actually hit. The video certainly seems to show a full-auto burst, so I’m treating this as confirmed. This looks like a targeted gang-related hit, but being Chicago, it could simply be road rage.
Fatalities: None. - September 20, 2021
Type: Handgun, illegally modified to full-auto (Glock with giggle switch? Article mentions “switch.”)
Registered: No
Lawfully possessed: No
Circumstance: Houston PD serving warrant on Deon Ledet. Ledet opened fire on the police, killing one officer and wounding another. Ledet was killed in the shootout.
Fatalities: 2; the perp and 1 officer - August 10, 1999
Type: Uzi submachine gun
Registered: No
Lawfully possessed: No
Circumstances: Previously convicted felon shot up the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center, and fled. He killed a postal worker.
Fatalities: 1 dead,5 injured - April 3, 2022
Type: Glock 9mm pistol, stolen and unlawfully converted to a machine gun
Registered: No
Lawfully possessed: No
Circumstances: Sacramento shootout by known felons. At least 5 shooters. Appears to be gang-related. (Note that media calls this a “mass shooting,” but it does not meet the FBI definition.)
Fatalities: 6 dead. 12 wounded. - April 22, 2022
Type: AR-pattern rifles
Registered: Unknown
Lawfully possessed: No
Circumstances: Suspect hosed down a Washington, DC neighborhood from an apartment building window. Suspect found dead (presumed suicide) when police raided the apartment. DC police said the firearms were “obtained legally.”
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 0 dead, 4 wounded. “At that location, police recovered four long guns and two handguns. Three of the long guns were fully automatic, [D.C. Police Chief Robert] Contee said.” - 5/31/2023
Type: Unknown; appear to be handguns
Registered: Unknown, unlikely
Lawfully possessed: Unknown, unlikely
Circumstances: Four Men With Machineguns. Not yet in custody, as of this writing.
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 1 (14yo male). 3 wounded (19yo, 19yo, 21yo) - 9/13/2023
Type: Unknown
Registered: Unknown
Lawfully possessed:
Circumstances: Drive-by shooting in Dublin, GA.
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 0. 2 wounded (Male, 21y; Female, 44y)
- 10/16/1981
UNCONFIRMED
These may be machinegun crimes, but are not confirmed due to lack of, or conflicting, reports.
- 5/17/1974
Type: Converted M1 Carbines
Registered: unknown
Lawfully possessed: unknown
Circumstances: Symbionese Liberation Army Shootout. Many news reports claim the M1 Carbines had been converted to fully automatic. Images of the weapons don’t appear to show the select-fire selector switch. Patricia Hearst’s arrest warrant did allege possession of an NFA firearm not registered to her, but the indictment was only on armed bank robbery and using a firearm in a felony. Those are the charges she was convicted on. Nor does the FBI’s historical account of Hearst mention automatic weapons.
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 0 - 6/18/1984
Type: MAC-10, allegedly converted to full-auto
Registered: unknown
Lawfully possessed: unknown
Circumstances: Talk radio host Alan Berg was assassinated by members of the neo-NAZI The Order. Multiple reports state that the MAC-10 used had been illegally converted to an automatic weapon. But no one was charged with, much less convicted of, NFA violations. If it had been so converted, it was neither lawfully possessed, nor registered. - 9/14/1992
Type: .380-caliber machine gun
Registered: unknown
Lawfully possessed: unknown
Circumstances: Dr. Shou Chao Ho killed Dr. Carmelito Olaes
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 1
Notes: Claims that this was a machinegun all seem to be based on a report that the perp said he had registered his guns with the BATFE when he purchased them. However, if he lawfully purchased a machinegun, he would have begun registration long before the actual purchase. Reporting at the time makes no mention of a machinegun, nor any NFA charges. - 11/8?/2020
Tori Spelling says she and her kids witnessed man shooting machine gun
Completely unconfirmed, not even location, and I’m not about to accept Spelling as an expert witness on anything. Included only while I conduct additional research. - 1980s
Type: Various
Registered: unknown
Lawfully possessed: unknown
Circumstances: There are many anecdotal claims that criminals in Miami used machineguns regularly. But they are difficult to track down. So far, the only specific claim was the shooting of Elio Gonzalez and his son; but I can find nothing to verify it, especially since no date was given. Gary Kleck (Targeting Guns) claims 1% percent of the homicides involved machineguns, which is at odds with Time magazine’s somewhat-less-believable claim of 23%. I’m willing to believe there were some, but I have zero confirmed data on how many.
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): unknown - 2010s, 2020s
There have been several vague reports of converted — giggle switch — Glocks being used in cities. But in most, I have not been able to gather sufficient data to rate them as confirmed. But there has been repeated confirmation of Glocks being found with switches installed, along with several valid reports of switches alone being confiscated. So: Likely, but not confirmed. - January 27, 2022
Type: Unknown
Registered: Unknown
Lawfully possessed: Unknown
Circumstances: Three Houston Police Department officers were injured after they pursued a suspect armed with what appeared to be a fully automatic weapon in the city’s Third Ward area. No named official source confirms an automatic weapon as of 1/28/2022. Video is suggestive, but inconclusive.
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): None
LAWFUL USES
Notably, machineguns have been used in lawful self defense.
- 2/24/1984
Type: Ruger AC556
Registered: Yes
Lawfully possessed: Yes
Circumstances: Gary Fadden incident: An H&K salesman fended off multiple armed robbers. - 11/12/1990
Type: Smith & Wesson Model 76 9mm submachine gun
Registered: Yes
Lawfully possessed: Yes
Circumstances: Gun store owner fended off burglary attempt, when seven idiots drove a vehicle through the store front. - 4/1993
Type: AK-47
Registered: No
Lawfully possessed: No
Circumstances: Eugene Baylis shot up a bar after being shot in the face with a pellet gun, killing 2 and wounding more. He was acquitted of murder, the jury finding he acted in self defense. He was later convicted on federal NFA charges for unlawful possession of 3 machineguns. The use was lawful, the possession was not.
Fatalities (excluding perpetrator): 2 - 11/15/2020
Type: short-barreled Patriot Ordinance Factory automatic rifle fitted with a suppressor, .223 Rem.
Registered: Yes
Lawfully possessed: Yes
Circumstances: Attempted burglary of a Class 3 dealer, fended off by the owner. No fatalities, but burglary stopped cold.
Anyone with information about other machinegun uses, confirmed or unconfirmed, may contact me at bussjaeger@zelmanpartisans.com. Please provide source data or links to such.