this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2025
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[–] kreskin@lemmy.world 30 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Except for state laws-- usually california, no limits on ammo purchases. Purchase 5 million rounds if thats what you need for um, deer hunting. Nothing over 50 cal, but 50 cal is fine. Mount it on your pickup truck or your own armored vehicle I guess. 50 cal ammo is 3 bucks per round for the cheap stuff so that adds up. Not a gun for the poors to own. You can own a tank if you want to, but theres a lot of laws around making it street legal, depending on the tank's weight.

Operating a tank is a paperwork nightmare, which is another reason why Americans are so cynical about their government.

(/s)

[–] zaph@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 hours ago

You can own a tank if you want to, but theres a lot of laws around making it street legal, depending on the tank's weight.

What if I just want a little joy ride through San Diego as a treat?

[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What do you mean I can't have a Warhammer 40k type of missile launching bolter?

[–] scoobford@lemmy.zip 2 points 14 hours ago

You can have it so long as it is semiautomatic. There's just a lot of paperwork involved because the bolter itself and each individual round are probably considered destructive devices.

[–] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 0 points 12 hours ago
[–] blazeknave@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

20 years ago in Idaho my buddy who is a Marine took me into Walmart. The only restrictions on our purchases were the bounds of our debit cards.

[–] Digestive_Biscuit@feddit.uk 28 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I enjoy posts like this where Americans get hooked into the legalities of what guns can be bought, the ammo, whether it's permitted in some states, etc.

It's a movie about a robot from the future which time travelled. And people are questioning the legalities of buying guns in the 80's.

[–] peteypete420@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And also the answer is easy, yes. Then, now, tomorrow, yes you can just buy any gun anywhere you want at any time. To be clear, I am American. Living in Amerikkka. Before posting this I went into my local Starbucks and bought a mortar launcher and a semi automatic pistol. After that I went over to fed ex and printed 3 luigi pistols in 4 different colors.

Could you just imagine the suppression people face in other countries? Calling them colours or whatever it is in the metic system.

[–] nthavoc@lemmy.today 5 points 1 day ago

Can confirm. I got the two mortar round special to go with my vinte mocha frappachino. I showed them my 'merica card and got an extra tube launcher thrown in because I drink a lot of fancy overpriced coffee as is 'merican tradition. Two more punches on my card and I get a drum magazine for the rifle of my choice with 2 pallets of ammo. Also back in the 80's you could just buy your guns out of vending machines at K-Mart. Terminator is using rookie numbers and clearly from the future.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It was in the 80's. The only way he wouldn't have gotten a gun was if he was a stereotype of a gay man and came into the gun store kissing his boyfriend.

[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Well, he did come from the future after all. It wouldn't be hard for Skynet to dig through criminal records, court cases, sales records, bank info, etc... and pinpoint where to get an optimal shopping experience for this mission.

[–] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Part of the plot was that Skynet didn't have great records. The terminator had to use a phone book and go down the line killing Sarah Conners because it didn't know which one was the target

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I find it weird that there probably was an early skynet that did know all these addresses off a bat but had no time machine, and then a later skynet that lost that info but did have that time machine.

I guess the rebels really did make a marked difference to the data banks of skynet to cripple it, even as its capabilities were extended

[–] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 5 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Consider that a fire in one building in 1973 destroyed millions of military records of which there were no copies, ruining bookkeeping for military personnel who had been discharged up to the 1960s.

The world was much less digitized even in the 1980s. A lot of records were still kept on paper or microfiche.

In the world of The Terminator Skynet's first move was to nuke population centers. That means destroying untold numbers of records. Sure some military and high level government records would be on ARPANET but Skynet wouldn't by default have been fed all of this mundane business and personal information because it simply hadn't been digitized and had no application for a military network.

Thats a lot of blank spaces.

[–] NABDad@lemmy.world 86 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

No. That wouldn't happen in a gun store.

You'd have to go to a gun show.

Edit: a gun show is like comic con, only for guns.

[–] Metz@lemmy.world 53 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

I mean Terminator 1 takes place in 1984. As far a quick search goes, there were no background checks, no assault weapon ban, no waiting period, ..etc

[–] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago (5 children)

I think you could still buy machine guns. No phased plasma rifles though.

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[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Background checks started in '68, they didn't become instant until like '93 because internet but they still existed, I think it was by phone back then. The rest of that isn't around now either except for some states, the national AWB expired 21yr ago, and there's never been national waiting periods.

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[–] SupraMario@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago (14 children)

Private sales are private sales. Has nothing to do with gun shows, that shit is just ignorance from anti-2a groups/people. The pro2a people have been asking for access to the NICS for years. Even if we had to pay $10 for a BG check to come back as clear or not, but they don't want that because it takes away from their wedge issue.

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[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 40 points 1 day ago
[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 36 points 1 day ago (3 children)

1984? In some states, yeah, It would have been that easy.

[–] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

In 1984, a full auto would still have been on an NFA registry. Open, rather than closed like today, but still not a simple one step sale.

This is of course, fact checking the finer points of gun law in a movie about a time traveling robot.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (4 children)

If you find a one in a million firearms store who buys their own stock and resells out back illegally, it still is.

Also some pawn shops, technically anything made before a certain date is an Antique and skips a lot of regulations.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

They'll pry my right to sell a late medieval firearm to children from my cold dead hands.

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[–] NutWrench@lemmy.ml 24 points 1 day ago (3 children)

He also asks for an "Uzi 9mm" a full-auto machine gun, which you could NOT just buy over the counter at a retail gun store.

[–] JDPoZ@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago (2 children)

There was a ban on selling machine guns to civilians that was passed in 1986.

The original Terminator film came out in 1984. So now? Yes, but then?

Probably accurate.

[–] thirstyhyena@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

What if the ban happened because of the movie, someone realized robot from the future could really happen, so they just ban it.

[–] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

The real real was that the 1986 act was a mixed bag. The closing of the machinegun registry was part of a compromise where on the other end some record keeping and shipping requirements for FFLs were relaxed, and ATF inspection limits of FFLs were put in place.

[–] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago

Not entirely. Machineguns have, since 1934, been required to be registered with the federal government, and for a normal person individually require a federal approval to buy (a "stamp").

What happened in 1986 was the machinegun registry changed from open to closed. This means, that new machineguns are no longer added to the registry, meaning that for the average person (ie not somebody involved in the industry with their own special licensing) the number of machineguns for sale is limited and supply over time will always be going slowly down.

The process for buying a machinegun is as simple as buying any other NFA item like a silencer/suppressor or an SBR. The cost has skyrocketed thanks to limited supply.

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[–] Inucune@lemmy.world 145 points 2 days ago (6 children)

A reminder this was during a time period we all collectively agreed to ignore Arnold's accent for narrative purposes.

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago

My theory, at least for purposes of The Terminator, is that after Judgment Day, there were some human holdouts in Austria who sent troops to help fight Skynet, so that's why an Austrian accent would be assigned to an infiltration unit.

I have nothing to say about Terminator 3. That was like three or four timeline modifications later. There's bound to be some reality degradation.

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[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 98 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (17 children)

Total fiction. Everyone knows you have to go to a unlicensed seller at a gun show in the majority of states for that, not a gun store

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[–] AllOutOfBubbleGum@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

"Phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range."

"Hey, just what ya see, pal."

[–] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

"Hey wait a minute. Those haven't been invented yet. What are you? Some kind of time traveling killer robot with incomplete historical records. Hang on just one second pal, I gotta go to the back."

[–] loaf@sh.itjust.works 52 points 1 day ago (6 children)

It was when I was younger. At 16, I was able to walk into a local gun shop and buy two boxes of 9mm ammo. Shop owner didn't seem to care at all, so my friend (17) went back in weeks later to buy a .22 pistol.

No ID. No anything.

Thankfully, things have changed since then.

[–] Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

You should have got a gun the same caliber as the ammunition.

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[–] unknown1234_5@kbin.earth 10 points 1 day ago (5 children)

I mean the accent isn't really relevant (though it would probably get a comment) but the large quantity of guns and ammo would raise suspicion.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

American Police: "Want to buy some guns? Go right ahead."

Also American Police: "Withdrawing more than $10,000 in cash to pay for it? Get'm boys!"

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[–] CidVicious@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 day ago

In the 80s it was. Nowadays you'd have to pass a background check.

[–] Yokozuna@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Question about the pistol here, is the mount reliable enough to keep it zero'd and accurate? That's a huge pistol and the kickback on the slide would be nuts, lots of energy moving around there to knock something loose, or at least a little off center, I feel like.

[–] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

Modern day, sure no problem. Today's micro red dots can be mounted to the moving slides themselves and survive.

In the 1980s? Maaaybe...

The laser in the movie is mounted to the frame by way of the grip, so it will shake around much less than if it were on the slide. Mounting optics to the frame is how competition guns were (and sometimes still are) set up.

The question comes down to the durability of a laser device made in the 80s. The movie's laser was a specially made prop. On one hand it was made by the precursor to Surefire which is known for quality equipment, on the other hand I doubt the movie cared about it actually holding a zero.

[–] doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 day ago

I mean kinda, but you gotta sit for a background check

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