"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass."
The Hughes Amendment was enacted as a portion of the Firearms Owners Protection Act (FOPA) of 1986. The amendment put into effect that no new machine guns were to be produced or sold to the civilian population after May 19th, 1986. This did not outlaw machine guns completely but instead made the cost of a Pre-Ban machine gun not affordable and a rare luxury. Legally owned and obtained automatic weapons have not been a major detriment to society since with some sources citing less than 2 murders attributed to them since 1934. The current system of background checks and tax stamps should remain a necessary precaution but the ban on new sale and production to civilians should be lifted.