Citation(s) from the GunPolicy.org literature library
Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 2024 ‘Machine Guns & Automatic Firearms in Washington DC.’ Hardware & Ammunition. San Francisco, CA: Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 19 November
Relevant contents
[Editor's note: The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence regularly updates its webpages with new data as US gun regulation evolves state by state. For the most up-to-date information on US gun laws, please refer to the Giffords URL below]
Machine Guns and Automatic Firearms in the District of Columbia
The District of Columbia deems machine guns unregisterable, thereby prohibiting possession of these firearms. Unregisterable firearms cannot be sold or transferred in the District. The District defines a machine gun as:
[A]ny firearm which shoots, is 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. The term "machine gun" shall also include the frame or receiver of any such firearm, any part designed and intended solely and exclusively, or combination of parts designed and intended, for use in converting a firearm into a machine gun, and any combination of parts from which a machine gun can be assembled if such parts are in the possession or under the control of a person.
District law also provides that any manufacturer, importer or dealer of a machine gun will be held strictly liable for any direct and consequential damages resulting from injuries or death caused by these weapons.
Any manufacturer, importer, or dealer of a[]…machine gun shall be held strictly liable in tort, without regard to fault or proof of defect, for all direct and consequential damages that arise from bodily injury or death if the bodily injury or death proximately results from the discharge of the…machine gun in the District of Columbia.
Any defense available in a strict liability action is available as a defense to an action brought under the District's machine gun strict liability laws…
Last accessed at:
https://giffords.org/lawcenter/state-laws/machine-guns-automatic-firearms-in-washington-dc/