Academics, guns

Just A Little Machinegun Crime List

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Update: There is now a more complete list in our Resources section, Machineguns Used In Crime, Post-NFA.

I’ve collected a list of confirmed criminal uses of NFA machineguns used in crimes since the passage of the National Firearms Act of 1934. These are confirmed:

  • 10/2017, “MAC-10 machine pistol”: Perp assaulted his girlfriend.
  • 9/15/1988, MAC-11: police officer murdered an informant, with a lawfully owned and registered machinegun.
  • 2/28/1997, 2 unlawfully converted Norinco Type 56 S-1s: North Hollywood Shootout.
    Two bank robbers with illegally converted AK-variants.
  • 1/11/2018, carjacking with machinegun: DOJ: “[Chumbucket], 20, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after he was previously convicted of carjacking, using, carrying, and brandishing a machinegun during and in relation to a crime of violence, unlawful possession of a machinegun, and possession of an unregistered machinegun.”It appears to have been an illegally modified AR-15, from news reports.

Unconfirmed Reports:

  • 10/20/2019, AK-47: The Philadelphia Police Police Department has been telling the media that an “automatic rifle” (or “assault rifle” or “AK-47”) was used on 10/20/2019 to kill a little girl. PPD refuses to confirm how they determined it was a machinegun, and the ATF does not appear to be involved in the case. I have hit the PPD with a formal FOIA request for confirmation on 11/25/2019.
  • 9/14/1992, .380-caliber machine gun: This pops up in searches as a machinegun use, but the report of his conviction makes no mention of federal firearm charges. Other sources dispute the machinegun claim.
  • 1966-2017, 10% of 318 mass public shootings involved automatic or “assault” rifles: The researchers make the claim but do not share their source data. The lead author has promised to send me the “machinegun” list, but has not done so. I find the claim to be extremely dubious. I suspect he has used the wrong data from an equally dubious earlier Lankford paper.

Lawful use of a machinegun:

If readers have other confirmed criminal uses of real machineguns, please share in comments, with sources please.

[Permission to republish this article is granted so long as it is not edited, and the author and The Zelman Partisans are credited.]

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2 thoughts on “Just A Little Machinegun Crime List”

  1. The SLA used M2 converted M1 Carbines in their May 17th 1974 shootout with police in Los Angeles. They fired over 5,000 rounds and killed no one. Think they were all killed or committed suicide, so no NFA charges were filed.

    1. I’m going to rate that as unconfirmed. Period reporting on the incident is weird. And while those six died, other SLA members were captured later. Hearst herself was picture with with what seems to be an M1 (the same picture is variously captioned as “automatic weapon” and “semiautomatic weapon”), and probably used one at the pawn shop; in fact, that one is probably one that was recovered at the shootout crime scene. But none appear to have ever been charged with machinegun possession.

      It’s certainly possible the M1’s were converted, as it’s a fairly simple procedure if you have the select-fire parts, and those seem to have been readily available back in the ’70s.

      ETA: None of the pictures I found of the recovered M1s appear to have fire selectors.

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