Quote Originally Posted by jc
I thought you had to get some kind of law enforcement sponsorship to get a license to buy an automatic.
No sponsorship needed. You need chief law enforcement officer (county sheriff, chief of police, city/county judge and DA tend to work too) sign off on your paperwork when you submit them. All this says is you're not a violent criminal and have no known mental problems. If they won't sign, like here in Austin, you can easily incorporate yourself and bypass that step. The biggest barrier to owning something fully automatic is the cost of the firearm. I think a Mac-10/11 is still the cheapest thing out there fully auto and they run $2500-4000. Several years ago they were in the $1200 range. Uzi's run around $6000 these days. Collecting Class III's is an expensive hobby.