Was a law recently passed that allowed contractors working for the Federal Government to acquire machineguns?
On August 8, 2005, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was signed by the President. The legislation authorizes security personnel of any licensee or certification holder of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), including an employee or a contractor of such a licensee or certificate holder, to transfer, receive, possess, transport, import, and use one or more firearms, weapons, ammunition, or devices notwithstanding certain Federal and State prohibitions. This new provision is a departure from present legal restrictions that do not allow for certain weapons to be imported for, transferred to, or possessed by non-government entities. Specifically, it allows private contractors, employees, and security personnel to receive and possess the types of firearms generally available only to government agencies, e.g. non-sporting firearms, short-barrel weapons, and machineguns. However, private security personnel will be subject to the provision that prohibits licensees from transferring a firearm t
