Machine guns Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Machine guns - Essay Example . automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger† (National). This is one example where laws confuse us more than help. The machine gun has had a checkered history; it was invented in the mid nineteenth century by Dr. Richard Jordon Gatling, and was known as the Gatling gun. He patented his invention in 1861. The Gatling gun was the first rapid firing gun which can precisely be referred to as the ancestor of modern machine gun. Dr Gatling said â€Å"it occurred to me that if I could invent a machine-a gun- which could by its rapidity of fire enable, one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred that it would to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies and consequently, exposure to battle and disease would be greatly decreased (Richard par 4).† This was followed in 1885 by a Maxim gun which was the first machine gun that was self powered, in that it used the recoil energy of the previous bullet to load and fire the next bullet. The modern machine gun is a development of the Maxim gun. All machine guns for firing use a basic mounting which is as follows People have been collecting guns all over the world for decades. It is similar to people like collecting swords. But now a new hobby has emerged of collecting machine guns in most countries of the world, owning a machine gun is illegal, but in the United States 34 states of the union, it is legal for citizens to own and shoot with machine guns. In case you wish to start a hobby as a machine gun collector then please do ensure that the state you reside allows you to own a machine gun. In some states such as Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Washington State and the district of Columbia, have a total ban on privately owned machine guns. However, despite the above quarters of million Americans own machine guns. The National Firearms Act 1934 is the nodal act that governs