5 ms·

It's always worth at least $100 - 200 dollars to avoid a US transfer. The machine guns, and tv's with propaganda of 'how great the US is' are all creepy as hell

• mtrpcic 8y ago
  I have travelled in and through the U.S. dozens of times (including through Newark) and have never once seen a "machine gun".
  • hangonhn 8y ago
    Did you fly in the years shortly after 9/11? There were soldiers armed with rifles, which may have automatic firing capabilities, back then. They aren't present now but I wonder if the GP's post is an impression from that period.
    • Kephael 8y ago
      I've only seen police openly carrying modern sporting rifles at LaGuardia. There are police and military openly carrying long guns in public in many European countries these days so I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised to see them at an airport.
  • treve 8y ago
    Not sure what they're called then! Semi-automatics?
    • jakebasile 8y ago
      A "machine gun" in the legal sense, in the US, is any weapon or device capable of firing multiple rounds per pull of the trigger. They have been illegal to manufacture for civilian use since 1986, although devices made before that time are legal for civilian ownership at the Federal level. It requires payment of a tax to the ATF and a background check (these are called NFA items, and the Gun Owner's of America is currently petitioning the Supreme Court to challenge it). A semi-automatic weapon can only fire once per trigger pull and then uses the force of the exploding round to load the next round from a magazine. These are extremely common in the US, but you probably did not see them since many are conceal carried or used only at home or at the range. What you saw at airports were probably "machine guns" used by police and military to guard the airport. A civilian legal "machine gun" can run upwards of $10000 and is likely not something people would carry in public, even if it is likely legal to do so depending on open carry of long guns laws in that locality.
      • jhpriestley 8y ago
        technically it's a "clip" not a magazine
        • adpirz 8y ago
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magazine_(firearms) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magazine_(firearms)
        • jakebasile 8y ago
          If you want to get specific, it's probably a magazine in most contexts. But it's really just pedantry: https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2014/3/6/clips-vs-magazines/ https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2014/3/6/clips-vs-...
      • YeGoblynQueenne 8y ago
        >> What you saw at airports were probably "machine guns" used by police and military to guard the airport. A civilian legal "machine gun" can run upwards of $10000 and is likely not something people would carry in public, even if it is likely legal to do so depending on open carry of long guns laws in that locality. The OP is probably not American and so most likely took it for granted that this type of weapon would only be carried openly by security forces. As did I. Now, this type of weapon is not available to civilians in Europe so most Europeans would probably think of anything that looks more "automatic" than a shotgun or a revolver as a "machine gun" owing to the lack of familiarity. As, also, would I. In Greece, where I'm from, it's common to use the word for "automatic" (weapon) to refer to both automatic and semi-automatic weapons, even though army service is mandatory and most men above 18 can probably understand the difference. Everyone else has only seen automatic weapons in movies, where everything, from slings on up, has unlimited ammo and rate of fire anyway.
    • leetcrew 8y ago
      you're not entirely wrong. people who aren't gun enthusiasts will call pretty much anything that looks capable of automatic fire a "machine gun". to someone more familiar with guns, a "machine gun" is a large weapon capable of sustained automatic fire that would be mounted to a fixed emplacement or on a vehicle. a "light machine gun" is a smaller version of this that usually requires more than one person to operate effectively. I can pretty much guarantee you did not see either of these things in a US airport. at the height of post 9/11 tensions I recall seeing security personnel with rifles and submachine guns (small automatic weapons that fire pistol ammunition) at airports, but this is fairly uncommon today.
• rconti 8y ago
  I'm not sure I've ever seen machine guns in public in the US. I've seen them plenty in France, Germany, and other European nations. That said, I generally recommend avoiding transits in places that have restrictive policies or excessive landing fees.
  • rcruzeiro 8y ago
    The only place I recall seeing machine guns in public in the US was in the airport (just like any major European airport to be fair)
  • asveikau 8y ago
    I lived in the DC area during 9/11 and remember being supremely creeped out to see heavy guns on the DC metro around that time - as bad as 9/11 was I was still jolted by that... But then had a similar reaction at a French airport.
  • roywiggins 8y ago
    I've spotted heavily armed cops in fatigues around JFK and NY Penn Station. More often Penn Station. Did not care to stare too hard at their guns so I have no idea what they were, but large assault-styled things slung on their chests.
• jakebasile 8y ago
  Machine guns have been illegal to manufacture for civilian use since 1986.
  • moate 8y ago
    I'm going to assume (DANGER DANGER DANGER!) that OP meant that the customs/security/border officials may have had them? Assuming this was a genuine post, that would make sense, as there are definitely armed security personnel at major airports (Source: I'm an American, and I've seen this). Best case, OP is trying to say he doesn't find that sort of security presence comforting/enjoyable, which is a perfectly cromulent opinion.
    • jakebasile 8y ago
      Reading elsewhere, OP isn't aware of what the word "machine gun" means so it's hard to glean what they were referring to: police/military presence at airports or civilian gun ownership.
    • treve 8y ago
      Yes, I was talking about the guards.
• maxxxxx 8y ago
  I agree about the US border security guys being assholes but I have seen more weapons last year when I travelled to Great Britain, Netherlands and Germany. Especially Amsterdam airport was full of guys with big guns.
• jedberg 8y ago
  I'm from the US and have been through a lot of US airports, and I've also been through a bunch in Europe and also Sao Paulo, Brazil. I don't ever recall seeing more than a handgun in the US, but in France and Germany they had automatic weapons and in Brazil I'm pretty sure they were full on machine guns. Even as an American I find the US propaganda when you enter a little creepy. But I also found it odd that when I got to France I couldn't take a picture to celebrate because I couldn't find a single "Welcome to France" thing anywhere in the airport!
• reaperducer 8y ago
  The machine guns Funny. The first time I saw machine guns in an airport was in Paris in the 80's and 90's. There were no machine guns in U.S. airports until 2001. tv's with propaganda of 'how great the US is' You should try Thailand. Or pretty much every other non-EU country. It's everywhere. And to be honest, I've never noticed it in American airports. Not to mention being yelled at by border security. I've been yelled at by plenty of border security agents. Austria, U.K., even Canada. Though the Canadian lady was trying to be funny. Contrary to stereotypes, the nicest border agent interaction I ever had was in Germany.
• matwood 8y ago
  > The machine guns Like most airports in the EU? I've seen prominent military style weapons throughout Heathrow, CDG, and Frankfurt. > tv's with propaganda of 'how great the US is' Really? Either the TVs are showing TSA notices what not to carry or they are on something like CNN. I guess CNN could be considered US propaganda hah. > being yelled at by border security I've never been yelled at by anyone at any border. My only immigration snag has been in Frankfurt when trying to leave the EU. My visa was stamped in Greece, but it had so little ink the German officer could not find the stamp. Then there was quite a bit of discussion with his partner in German that I didn't understand. Finally, I interjected that I entered the EU through Greece and they laughed and waved me through.
  • throwaway-29061 8y ago
    I've been in the US for almost a decade now, never entered the country for any reason other than work, where I'm paid a pretty nice salary, have a passport from an otherwise ordinary country and can tell you this: I have been treated like a criminal almost every single time at the port of entry, being asked the same question multiple times, yelled at for giving more information than was asked, despite being asked that exact information later on in the interrogation, and sent aside for further questioning. This has been pretty standard in the time I have been here. Only in less than a handful of occasions have I been asked a few reasonable questions and been treated nicely by a CBP officer. The exact opposite applies to my experience entering, say European countries, while not being an EU citizen. It's always been a pleasure, and taken no longer than a couple of minutes worth of questions, if any questions at all.
  • treve 8y ago
    So your anecdotal experience is different from mine. It sounds like you're disagreeing with me, but I guess you're not. This was just my experience. Going through (some) US airports feels like temporarily stepping into the world of starship troopers.
    • matwood 8y ago
      Not disagreeing, but pointing out that the US does not hold a monopoly on military style police in the airport. I've seen this at most large airports I have been to in Europe and Central America.
• YeGoblynQueenne 8y ago
  Sadly, there are heavily armed security forces in all major transit stations in Europe, these days, and I say "transit stations" because I mean to include train stations and ports. For instance, I've seen heavily armed guards in army fatigues in the train station in Brussels and in Paris and heavily armed border guards in the ports connecting France to the UK, but only on the French side I think. I guess we're just as paranoid about terrorism in the EU, as anywhere.