They were killers with submachine guns. Then the president went after their weapons.

[pbmus]

Last edited Thu Aug 15, 2019, 07:57 PM - Edit history (2)

They were the mass shooters of their day, and all of America knew their names: John “the Killer” Dillinger, Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, George “Machine Gun” Kelly.

In the 1930s, the violence by the notorious gangsters was fueled by Thompson submachine guns, or Tommy guns, that fired up to 600 rounds of bullets in a minute. In response, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was pressing Congress to act on his “New Deal for Crime,” specifically a bill officially called the National Firearms Act of 1934. Informally, it was known as the “Anti-Machine Gun Bill.”

At the time, Pretty Boy Floyd was on a killing spree. Clyde Barrow and his girlfriend, Bonnie Parker, were blazing a bloody path through Oklahoma with submachine guns and sawed-off shotguns. Machine Gun Kelly had recently been captured and sent to Leavenworth prison.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/08/09/they-were-killers-with-machine-guns-then-president-went-after-their-weapons/

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It can be done because we did it...and there were 1.7million Thompson machine guns manufactured...Roosevelt put a tax on buying them so high that people couldn’t afford them and the cities started buying them back and destroyed them...we need another Roosevelt .... hopefully we will get our Roosevelt before we get another massacre...knowing that it took a Chicago mayor to die before we took action.

[Ex Lurker]

1. FWIW the Barrow Gang's weapon of choice was the Browning Automatic Rifle

which the stole from National Guard armories.

[maxsolomon]

2. frankly I'm amazed the gunners haven't agitated to repeal this defacto ban

"what part of 'shall not be infringed' do you not understand?"

[Marengo]

3. There were NOT 1.5 million Thompsons in private

Hands at the time the NFA of 34 was enacted. That claim is utterly absurd.

[Marengo]

6. NFA registered machine guns (a little over 630,000 as of 2017) are rarely used in crime. They don't

Seem to be much of a problem.

[Marengo]

9. If they are not a problem, why do they need to be locked up in an armory?

[Marengo]

13. If eating straw is causing you to post nonsensical replies, I would suggest a change of diet...

I have no idea what you are attempting to express.

[SQUEE]

10. any machine gun built before 1986 was eligible for registry.

And there are strict guidelines for storage and transfer.

Add to that they run in the 10s of thousands of dollars for even the lowliest types...

[Brother Buzz]

4. Pfft, with that submachine gun shit

Clyde Barrow had a love affair with his badass Browning automatic rifles.

[abqtommy]

7. While the Thompson Submachine Gun/Tommy Gun used .45 caliber ammunition

it had limited range but tremendous stopping power, and was more compact and concealable than the Browning Automatic Rifle/BAR. The BAR used the 30.06 cartridge and had tremendous stopping power at long range. US infantry units in WWII would equip soldiers with both the Tommy gun and BAR, because they were both effective. It's no accident that criminals were fond of using these weapons.
Disclaimer: I do not own firearms, I just read a lot...