I personally have no use for an automatic weapon; especially a 'machine gun', as I have no forseeable need to fill an area with a volumn of lead. A well placed shot will serve me much better. Gun laws in all states seem to be a series of contradictions. I can walk into any gun store in Maryland and pick up a lever action rifle which chambers .44 mag ammo in 5 mins, but if I want a simple starter pistol, chambering .22lr ammo I have to fill out 5 pages of paper work and wait 7 days. It is a sad contridiction. I enherited an old .38 S&W and I guess it is the only pistol I will ever own. I won't go through all that crap just to buy a pistol, when I can fill out one page of reasonable questions(we don't want unstable people getting hold of weapons so easily, better they have to get them on the street which will deter at least some of them) and wait 5 mins and get a rifle. I have a lot of rifles and a few shot guns, I enjoy shooting them more then any pistol I have shot anyway. Grumpy is right get informed, decide where you stand on each existing and each proposed gun restriction and vote accordingly and let congress and your state delegates know where you stand. Get informed don't just agree with every gun restriction the government wants or disagree with every restriction they want. Some gun laws serve us well in my opinion, it is the pitifully undertrained and undersupported police that cannot keep guns out of the hands of criminals and crazies that are the problem. I have no problem with a civilian having an automatic weapon if he can afford one, if he has no violent criminal record, is not a known drunk or drug abuser and not known to be mentally unstable, then why the hell not! What is the government afraid of?