Rick Nolan response (D - Northeastern Minnesota)

[Hmac]

All of which means you can indeed legally own a machine gun in the state of MN.

You just need to get a Class III license.

Which means machine guns or fully automatic weapons are not "criminalized."

Machine guns or fully automatic weapons are criminalized for the vast majority of the Minnesota public that doesn't have a Class III FFL. If you don't have a Class III FFL, aren't a cop with an agency-owned and assigned FA weapon, and take possession of a fully automatic firearm in Minnesota, you would be a criminal.

But yes, there is a small segment of the Minnesota population for whom possession of a machine gun would not be illegal.

[BigBlue]

Isn't it 'legal' for a Class III in the sense that they could possess them to sell them? They can't technically just own one for fun, can they?

[St. Olaf]

Hey, if you can't get your asking price......you're stuck with the darn thing.

[Hmac]

Isn't it 'legal' for a Class III in the sense that they could possess them to sell them? They can't technically just own one for fun, can they?

I believe they can be owned by a Class III FFL as "demonstators" and transferred to a buyer on a Form 4. "Possession to sell" sounds right. IIUC, it's kind of a grey area. I have a buddy that's a Class III and a retired deputy. He has at least a few FA firearms that I guess he's been trying to sell for years.

[jshuberg]

Go ahead, try and get a properly registered machine gun as a private citizen inside the state of MN.

I have a perfectly legal and properly registered AR-15 machine gun here in MN. I'm not an FFL of any type. It's not illegal, just expensive, a lot of hoops to jump through, and selection is limited.

Additionally, an FFL07 SOT2 can manufacturer and stockpile machine guns in contemplation of future government or law enforcement sales:

Notwithstanding the prohibition in Section 922(o), qualified manufacturers may manufacture machineguns on or after May 19, 1986 for sale to Federal and State agencies or to FFLs/SOTs as “sales
samples” for demonstration to prospective governmental customers.The weapons may be manufactured and stockpiled in contemplation of future sales, but their registration and subsequent transfer are conditioned upon and restricted to sales only to government agencies or as sales samples.

http://www.atf.gov/publications/downloa ... pter-7.pdf

Machine guns in MN are not criminalized.