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 mo

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.