There are a fair number of legal M16 and full auto AR-15s in civilian hands, it wasn't until 1986 that civilian sales of newly manufactured full auto firearms w

There are a fair number of legal M16 and full auto AR-15s in civilian hands, it wasn't until 1986 that civilian sales of newly manufactured full auto firearms was banned, resulting in an inventory estimated at 200,000. Here are 18 for sale: http://www.gunbroker.com/Machine-Guns/BI.aspx?Sort=5 http://www.gunbroker.com/Machine-Guns/BI.aspx?Sort=5 (on the first page), ranging in price from $10K to $35K for an unfired Colt AR-15. Plus of course the $200 Federal transfer "tax". Scare quotes because when it was established in 1934, per the BLS it was a prohibitive $3.7K, or if you don't trust the government's inflation statistics (I don't) 6 oz of gold, which is currently $7.5K. BTW, if you think government-citizen relations are bad today, well, 15 months before the National Firearms Act was passed, FDR signed an executive order confiscating the gold held by us: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102 And it was bought at $20.67/oz, and quickly repriced at $35/oz.