Last night I was an assistant on a shoot my studio partner Bobby was doing for Talon Arms. Talon mostly sells accessories for firearms, and some guns themselves. A lot of their clients are law enforcement and Micheal Wynhoff, the owner of the company, said the biggest seller for them is suppressors.
James this was one of those times I loved my job. There were 4 pretty models and over $100K in firearms. I got to hold and help pretty girls hold a number of custom M4s, an MP5, a FAL, a couple of sniper rifles. For handguns there were 2 custom 1911 race guns – meaning they were tricked out for competition shooting. There were two other handguns I don’t remember equipped with suppressors. It was awesome.
Michael also invited me to come out to his ranch and shoot, including full auto. And he offered the same thing to the models, so there maybe pretty girls with machine guns soon.
I learned a couple of interesting things. I learned that any good citizen of the USA can buy a machine gun or a suppressor*. I thought you needed a special license. Instead you have to pay a ridiculous tax. It is ~$300 a gun, and takes a while to get back from the ATF. You then have to keep the tax stamp with the gun at all times.
There is another requirement, which is that you have to get CLEO approval. CLEO is Chief Law Enforcement Officer, which means you have to get the chief of police or county sheriffs to agree you need one. Which doesn’t happen even in Houston Texas. But there is a loophole. If the gun is owned by a corporation it is a corporate asset and doesn’t have to be approved by CLEO. So form an LLC for a $140 and have it own the gun.
Alas I was the assistant and not the shooter on this one, so I don’t have images to post. But I’ll let you know when there are any online.
* For my non-gun geek readers, a suppressor is the proper name for what people call a silencer.
Thanks for the info on the suppressor and automatic weapons… though, with Better Half balking at the idea of me getting a 1911, neither is on my purchase list at the moment… 😉
Michael also invited me to come out to his ranch and shoot, including full auto. And he offered the same thing to the models, so there maybe pretty girls with machine guns soon.
You might not have any pics of the shoot to share with us, but there isn’t any reason why you can’t take a few shots of some full auto action.
James
There’s also a matter of state law; some states prohibit and prosecute Class III firearms. OTOH, I have heard that here in Wisconsin, where the big city police chiefs and urban county sheriffs won’t sign the form that it is possible to go over their heads, and that there is a state supreme judge,outranking them, who will after you go thru the formality of logging their refusal.
Not quite true – no matter how good a citizen you are here in Missouri you can’t own a suppressor, unfortunately.
I’d be willing to take one (or more!) of the models off of your hands though, assuming I can get clearance from the normally ever-indulgent wife.
Guess I should have mentioned state laws might keep your from owning a suppressor or machine gun.
Triticale: Don’t know if it works the same in Wisconsin, but here Micheal said if you incorporate and an LLC, and make the gun a corporate asset, then you don’t have to get CLEO sign off.