This site claims that it is often easier to get a machine gun than a driver’s license in the US.
Comments?
It’s a lie.
How many people do you know that have a working fully automatic weapon?
How many people do you know that have a car?
Europeans seem to have the idea that fully automatic weapons are sold in every convenience store. That is false. People don’t understand that handguns called “automatics” are not fully automatic, but semiautomatic. America is not awash in machine guns, and anyone who says it is is a big fat liar.
Let’s see…to get a driver’s license in California, I need to be 16, have taken Driver’s Training, and pass both a written and practical test. To own a machine gun, I have to…do nothing. Machine guns are totally banned in California under any circumstances. To get one elsewhere, you have to pay a special tax, possess a Class 3 Federal License, undergo all sorts of background checks and the like, and pay through the nose. MP5’s aren’t cheap.
As usual, the foreign press is stirring up shit they don’t understand at all.
Sure it is, all it takes is $30,000 for the gun and a $200 federal tax stamp for each purchase.
Oh, you can’t live in “DE, DC, HI, NY, WA” and be able to pass a basic background check. But that’s it…
Oh, and have a sheriff or police chief willing to sign a form stating that he’s ok with you having it in his jurisdiction.
Fingerprinted of course, but you’re fingerprinted when you get a drivers license.
So, except for the cost and the background check and the federal and local police involvement, the multiple forms, the 90 day wait, and having to go through that for each and every automatic weapon purchased, I suppose some would say that the hardest part of either one is taking the driving test that any stoned 16 year old can and has passed with ease.
Or, what everyone else already said while I was checking numbers.
This is a machine gun. This is a sub machine gun. This is a semi-automatic pistol.
The idea of someone carrying around an actual machine gun is ridiculous. Sub machine guns are highly regulated and can cost as much as car. The final item, or one like it, was used to kill around 30 people at Virginia Tech.
You’d think a German magazine would get it right. All they have to do is look out a window. Last time I was in Germany, the cops were all carrying submachineguns.
You’re not fingerprinted everywhere when getting a driver’s license. Here you’re not, at least. And I’ve never bought an automatic weapon, but to buy shotguns and handguns I’ve had to show ID - in other words, my driver’s license. I’m sure they’d take the kind of state ID that isn’t a license, but I think it had to be state ID. In other words, not only is it easier, most people do one before they do the other.
While I agree it’s not easy to get a machine gun, this is kind of a silly response, isn’t it? I know far more people who own a car than own a telescope, but it’s much easier to buy a telescope than it is to buy a car. I could cite a thousand items that are easier to buy than a car, but much less commonplace.
It’s quite possible that this is mistranslation. The German article may have written something that means “semi-automatic” rather than machine gun. But in any case the obvious point is on the availability of guns vs. cars in the USA, and one would hope that we’d have sufficient intellectual honesty to address that point.
It’s still hard to say, if we’re talking about rifles and shotguns, which aren’t automatic in nature they’re not terribly hard to get. You still have to be 21 though, and you only have to be 16 to get a driver’s license.
To actually use a rifle or shotgun to hunt outside of private property you will need a hunting license, and almost every state requires as part of getting your first hunting license you pass a course on safety and take an exam (not that different from driver’s licensing)–this kind of thing has been implemented in most states in recent years, with persons born before a certain date exempted so that the gray-hairs who have been hunting for decades aren’t forced to take a test on hunting safety (although I honestly think some could learn from it.)
Fully automatic weapons are incredibly hard to get because of the National Firearms Act of 1934 and are outright banned in some states; following the regulations in the NFA requires a ton of money, effort, special licensing and et cetera. So the topic’s question, “easier to buy a machine gun or get a driver’s license in US” is–it’s much easier to get a driver’s license, without question.
No, they were not. Not even remotely. False, incorrect, and pure b.s.
It’s likely a translating error.
Having a car license and owning a gun isn’t an apples to apples comparison.
A license does not allow a person to own a car, it allows a person the use of public roads to drive their car on.
The more apt comparison, then, is the act of buying a gun, and buying a car. You can buy a car without ever having a driver’s license, and if you own your own race track, or any sort of private place to drive, you don’t require a license to drive your car. It’s only the act of driving on public roads that requires the license.
So the comparison, then, for getting a driver’s license, would probably be getting a concealed carry permit. It allows you to carry the weapon onto public property.
As for which is more difficult - that’s up to your perspective, I guess. I had to take 12 or 16 hours of classes on the laws governing self defense, where to carry, how to carry, techniques for carrying and shooting, safe usage, and an actual live range test to prove that I’m proficient enough in the use of the gun, and then get fingerprinted and background checked. For my driver’s license, I had to pass a written test that you’d have to be a complete moron not to pass, and a 10 minute driving test.
I’ll stay out of the gun control debate but I want to address the point made about the possible mistranslation.
The original German says:
Denn dort ist es oft leichter, sich eine Maschinen-Pistole zu besorgen, als einen Führerschein zu machen. (http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/standards/kommentar/2007/04/17/kommentar-neu.html)
The term in question here is “Maschinen-Pistole”, which would translate as machine pistol. Given the three images supplied by mstay I’d say that the article is referring to a submachinegun (e.g. Heckler & Koch MP 5). The English translation of the article is therefore incorrect. I have no idea if the article’s actual point that a submachinegun is easier to get than a drivers license has any validity.
Please also note that the link in the OP goes to Spiegel online which in turn quotes an op-ed piece in Bild online. Spiegel is a reputable weekly news magazine; Bild is a daily tabloid. I wouldn’t treat anything that Bild writes as reliable information. OTOH I readily concede that most people in Germany (myself and the media included) don’t know a lot of technical facts about firearms - they are just not all that present in the public mind.
As an aside, German cops do not all carry submachineguns. You’ll see a lot of those at airports and train stations, carried by the federal border police. Regular cops may have submachineguns locked in their cars but they generally carry normal semi-automatic pistols.
Heh, I failed the written the first time. Since then, I’ve been on military ranges blasting away with machine guns. 
There’s one minor little detail - lots of people want cars, but I imagine lots of the people who want to be able to drive have little to no interest in owning a gun. I could easily pass whatever Illinois’ requirements are for owning a gun, but I have no interest in ever being in the same room with one, let alone owning one, or even shooting one.
As far as the legal hassle in acquiring them, all weapons capable of fully automatic fire (including submachine guns) are considered “machine guns” in reference to the '34 NFA.
Good point. Do you need a drivers license to join the Army? If a birth cirtificate will do, then yes, it is technically easier to get a machinegun.
The catch is the gun and it’s owner now belong to the Government!
It is true that it is relatively easy to buy a handgun–show your ID and wait the legally mandated number of days before you are allowed to actually walk out the door with it. But, to legally carry said handgun on your person on a day to day basis requires considerable effort, including fingerprinting.
Like you, I’ve never been fingerprinted as part of obtaining a driver’s license.
Well, you stand in line for an hour or more to get a driver’s license. Yet you can buy guns at supermarkets. They do check your ID though. Last time I was at Albertsons I got stuck waiting for verification in self-checkout when I bought my latest gun. I was kind of pissy because my crab legs were getting warm.