Should this gun be outlawed?

[Archae]

It puts that Bushmaster used in the CT shooting to shame.



It is mostly outlawed.
It's a frikkin' machine gun.

Yet back in the 1920's it was the weapon of choice by gangsters like Bonnie & Clyde.
And they got 'em by breaking into local National Guard armories.

Did outlawing these keep gangsters from owning them, and the Tommy gun?

[Glassunion]

1. Were they readily available to any schmuck who wanted to go shoot up a school?

Could they have just sauntered into a gun shop, filled out the ATF form, waited for a 2 minute call to the NICS and walk out with it 10 minutes later?

You don't hear about too many Tommy gun (or any full auto) shootings now a days do you?

[11cents]

2. We shouldn't make any laws that people might break.

I mean, what's the point?

[thucythucy]

3. Of course it should.

And if I'm reading your OP right, it was.

And evidently gangsters today no longer use it. Nor have I seen many tommy guns out and about in public of late.

A perfect argument for this type of gun control, yes?

[El Supremo]

4. That's a BAR.

Browning automatic rifle. Too heavy for gangsters. I'll get you a picture of a Thompson Sub Machine Gun.

[El Supremo]

8. Tommy Gun. The Uzi of it's day.

I think it and the BAR were outlawed. As assault rifles, fully automatic or not, should be.

[obamanut2012]

5. That isn't a Thompson

[Recursion]

6. I think you mean this?

Submachineguns were never popular among non-criminals. Semi-automatics are.

[Archae]

9. No, I know it's a Browning Automatic Rifle.

And Bonnie & Clyde, and many other gangsters preferred it to the Tommy gun, because it was more powerful.

Just look what that gun in the hands of law enforcement did to Bonnie and Clyde's car.



Speaking of semi-autos, my BIL has one.
A Remington shotgun with semi-auto.
When he goes duck hunting, he can only have 3 shells in the magazine.
Deer hunting, 5.

[Recursion]

10. Hm... didn't know that about Bonnie and Clyde

The BAR just seems way to bulky and heavy for most criminal use.

[Archae]

11. The Tommy gun was invented as a "trench sweeper."

Able to spray bullets into the trenches of WW1.

Today's "assault rifle" is the direct descendant of the German STG 44, a WW2 sub-machine gun that could also fire semi-automatic.

[Brother Buzz]

12. Tommy gun wasn't more powerful

The BAR loaded with armor piercing rounds was a formidable weapon and would easily take out a pursuing law enforcement vehicle. The crooks used both.

[Archae]

13. Exactly.

In war, it was effective against the primitive tanks of the day.

During the 20's it wasn't as popular as the Tommy gun, but some gangsters still preferred it.

[slackmaster]

7. That's a weapon available only to the wealthiest collectors now

It's a damn shame.

[Spider Jerusalem]

14. The answer to that is, probably, yes

at least after 1934 it became much harder to obtain full-auto weapons, prior to that you could buy a BAR or an M1927 Thompson from a sporting goods store, gun shop or catalogue. (The National Firearms Act of 1934 was enacted into law one month after Bonnie & Clyde met their end; they could've bought one legally at the time but didn't).