I was thinking about buying a full auto UZI and I was told all I have to do is fill out some paperwork, get fingerprinted, take a mug shot, and wait about 3 months to get cleared. Is this true? I was also told that by doing that it gives the ATF or local shariff the right to come in and search your home anytime they feel like it. Is this also true? If so has any of you that own full autos ever been visited by the ATF or local police?? I'd really like to hear from people who own full autos or really knows what they are talking about.

You can probably get more/better answers if you post in the M16 Full Auto section.

You if you state allows Class III you can get a full auto gun.  You left out getting a CLEO signature.  

Check to make sure your CLEO will sign.  Can be CLEO, Sheriff or DA.  One other way is to Incorporate and then you don't need a signature.  But, if you ever let the corporation expire, you need to get rid of the gun.
Buy the weapon and get the paperwork
Get a set of fingerprint cards done
Get 2 passport type photos
Have the CLEO sign it
Send in the paperwork with a 200 check for a TAX STAMP.  [rolleyes]
Wait, wait, wait, wait some more...
Pickup your weapon from your Class III dealer.

And NO,  the ATF CANNOT visit you to check the status of your weapon.   That is a Class III DEALER.   And that has to be scheduled w/you before the visit.

Think I covered it all.

PS.  Go to [url]www.subguns.com[/url] and look at the NFA forums for prices.

7 is correct- just because you own a class III weapon doesn't give ANYONE the right to search your house or property at will.  You have to go through the process to get your $200 tax stamp for the weapon, but once you get it, it's yours just like any other property, and the process is done.  Class III dealers have to submit to scheduled inspections by BATF, but private citizens who have registered class III weapons DO NOT.  They have to have probable cause that you have committed a crime, and then have to get a search warrant to search your dwelling for evidence of that crime.  There is no legal provision for spot-checking private class III owners.

I would check out the full-auto forum or legal forum.

It sounds like you are confusing two separate things: 1) The single transfer tax stamp and 2) the Class III dealer's license.

Part 1:
Anyone with a clean criminal history who lives in a Class III legal state and who has the permission of their local sheriff can buy a Class III (full auto in this case) firearm made before 1986.  You go to a Class III dealer and buy the firearm (made before 1986) that you want.  This will probably cost at least $4,000 to $10,000 for a M16 type weapon. (The high price is from the dwindling supply of pre 86 full autos.)

Then, you don't get to take it home after you buy it.  You pay all that money, plus $200 (I think) for a "Tax Stamp".  I’ve heard that some dealers charge something like $50 for all of the paperwork too.  Then you wait many months for the paperwork and background check to clear the BATF.  Then, assuming you pass, you get a slip of paper with your Tax Stamp on it. (I think the tax stamp looks like a big postage stamp.)  At this time you can go to your Class III dealer and take home your new toy, assuming you got the permission of your local sheriff.

As far as I know there is no law that allows the BATF or anyone else from coming into your house without a warrant.  You must at all times keep the Tax Stamped paperwork with the firearm.  If caught without the papers, you are in big trouble.  When you take your Class III out shooting, you must bring your papers.

If you sell the firearm, the person who buys it from you must also go through the tax stamp crap and pay $200 and wait forever and a half on the BATF. (I think a family member can inherit the weapon without the charge for the tax stamp.)

The law that created the tax stamp was passed in 1934 (I think) because of the hysteria stirred up by the Thomson Sub-Machinegun (A. K. A. “The Tommy Gun”) and it’s use by a few high-profile gangsters. ($200 for a tax stamp was a lot of money in the 1930’s.  On the History Channel, I saw ads before the tax stamp law that were marketing the Tommy Gun to ranchers and such as a tool of self defense.)  Up until 1986 you could buy newly manufactured full auto weapons (with a tax stamp), when they passed a law banning post 1986 full auto weapons from private ownership.  I’m not sure, but I don’t think the ban applies to silencers/suppressors (which require a $200 tax stamp of their own).

Part 2:
A Class III dealer’s license is a license that allows you to sell Class III weapons to whoever can buy them (law enforcement and people who get their tax stamp and are buying pre ’86 weapons).  I’m not sure about the difficulty of getting a Class III dealer’s license, but my guess would be it isn’t to easy these days.

I don’t know if you have to own a business with a Class III dealer’s license, but wherever the weapons are stored (gun shop, basement of your house, etc.), the authorities can search at any time without a warrant as part of the Class III dealer’s license agreement.  (Don’t store them under your mattress. [:)] )

If you have a Class III dealer’s license, you (or is it your business?) can get a brand-spankin’-new post 1986 “dealer’s sample”.  It can only be sold to other Class III dealers or police/military.  I think you can take it out shooting and stuff, but you don’t really own it and you can’t sell it to just anyone.

There is also a Class III manufacture’s license, but I don’t know too much about that.  All I know is that you have to have one to legally manufacture Class III weapons.  You can only sell you products to Class III dealers as dealer samples or for sale to military/law enforcement.

Disclaimer:
I am not a layer.  I do not play one on TV.  All of this information was gathered by me from hundreds of posts on the forums at AR15.com and should be taken as hearsay.   If anyone knows this info to be false, then please correct and add to the info I have posted.

That’s it I’m done typing for the day.  wwheeewww.

Hey guys thanks alot for the info, it helped out alot. I may or maynot go through all the trouble of buying a full auot. I'm still debating on it. Too bad the prices of guns are so high. Maybe I'll get one with my Christmas bonus, who knows. Well thanks again.

If your going UZI check out Vector Arms http://www.vectorarms.com/indexframe.html

I AM a layer. I would play one on TV and I am willing to audition to any willing females who request it.
Thanks for playing,
Coversix

Now that the Class 3 rumors have been dispelled let me also add that having been to the BATF office on a couple of occasions with Class 3 questions I have found them to be curteous, knowledgeable and helpful.