To buy a legal machine gun, you must register with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and be fingerprinted. that could be sold legally because they were registered before the 1986 law took effect. Last year, the Department of Justice said there were 175,977 machine guns circulating in the U.S. The Firearm Owners’ Protection Act of 1986 banned the sale of automatic weapons to civilians in the U.S., unless the guns were already registered with the government. But the details that have been confirmed so far are already raising a number of questions about Paddock’s weapons and how he obtained them. Of those, 12 semiautomatic rifles had devices attached that allowed them to function like fully automatic weapons, the Associated Press reported. Later Tuesday, federal officials said Paddock had nearly 50 guns, including rifles, shotguns and handguns, in three locations. A law enforcement official said Tuesday that at least one of the rifles in Paddock’s hotel room had a “bump stock,” a modification that allows semi-automatic guns to fire like automatic weapons. Law enforcement said Tuesday the shooting lasted between 9 and 11 minutes.Įxperts who listened to videos of the shooting quickly homed in on the audio, which was quick, continuous and sounded like the gunfire from an automatic weapon. Within minutes, more than 59 people were killed and 500 wounded. The noise came from a gun in the hands of 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, who was firing on the outdoor festival from the 32nd floor of the nearby Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. At first the rapid-fire burst was so steady, many concertgoers mistook it for firecrackers. Sunday, a rapid pop-pop-pop rang out at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a country music festival in Las Vegas.
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