The gun story keeps morphing until I want to see some more detailed information. WWII era machine guns. I think we can rule out an M2 50 cal. machine gun since it weighs 84 pounds without the ammo. Watching John Wayne running up a hill firing a 50 cal. made me laugh. Others may fit the catagory though which brings up a little issue.
Heavy snipping for space.
Title II weapons
Title II weapons is a legal term defined by U.S. Federal Law describing firearms and similar devices or components which are heavily regulated by the U.S. Government. This definition includes 6 categories:
Machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, destructive devices, silencers, and 'Any Other Weapons' (commonly referred to as "AOW"s) The definition of a Title II weapon is important in the context of the National Firearms Act.
Machine Guns
Machine Guns are defined as "weapons that shoot, are designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot without manual reloading by a single function of the trigger."[1] In addition to this definition, Title II also defines any part of a machine gun that may be readily assembled into a machine gun, primarily the receiver, as a machine gun itself.
linky -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_II_weapons#Machine_Guns
National Firearms Act
The National Firearms Act ("NFA"), 73rd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, 48 Stat. 1236, enacted on 26 June 1934, currently codified as amended as 26 U.S.C. ch.53, is an Act of Congress that, in general,
imposes a statutory excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms and mandates the registration of those firearms. The Act was passed shortly after the repeal of Prohibition. The NFA is also referred to as Title II of the Federal firearms laws. The Gun Control Act of 1968 ("GCA") is Title I.
All transfers of ownership of registered NFA firearms must be done through the federal NFA registry. The NFA also requires that transport of NFA firearms across state lines by the owner must be reported to the ATF.
All NFA items must be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
Private owners wishing to purchase an NFA item must obtain approval from the ATF, obtain a signature from the county sheriff or city or town chief of police (not necessarily permission), pass an extensive background check to include submitting a photograph and finger prints, fully register the firearm, receive ATF written permission before moving the firearm across state lines, and pay a tax. The request to transfer ownership of an NFA item is made on an ATF Form 4.[4]
Criminal Penalty's
Violations of the Act are punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison and forfeiture of all devices or firearms in violation, and the individual's right to own or possess firearms in the future. The Act provides for a penalty of $10,000 for certain violations.[6] A willful attempt to evade or defeat a tax imposed by the Act is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $100,000 fine ($500,000 in the case of a corporation or trust), under the general tax evasion statute.[7] For an individual, the felony fine of $100,000 for tax evasion could be increased to $250,000.[8]
Linky -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Firearms_Act#Registration.2C_purchases.2C_taxes_and_transfers
So my question would be, what's the chance of Ron having a federally registered, approved and tax paid automatic weapon?