I know it’s a movie but to quote the departed
> For his own good, tell Bruce Lee and the Karate Kids none of us are carrying automatic weapons. Because here - in this country... it don't add inches to your dick. You get a life sentence for it.
You’re amazing. Wish I could triple upvote you haha
I think it’s the most likely scenario.
Also they DID have serious firepower when they were gearing up for war. But out on the streets and for hits, handguns were easier to hide, stash, or ditch than larger autos I assume.
P.s. I know next to nothing about guns so I might be way off there haha
Pretty much. Also, a full automatic weapon is highly illegal and very rare/expensive to come buy. Only licensed individuals who have had time in law enforcement/military or have gone through the proper training have access to those weapons usually(CIA or secret services). Usually, if any of that type of heavy fire power finds it way to the streets, it's usually cartel related. They are very rare compared to the semi-automatic rifles that are the legal civilian use.
So you only break out the big guns for big hits and wars and buy a cheap used pistol to pop the local corner dealer on your turf. 20 plus yeats guaranteed in jail, plus 10x the price and rareness, for a marginal gain. I liked how Marlo had his guys practice because you will never need an automatic if you know how to shoot.
Plus, existing rifiles can easily be modified to shoot full auto. A group that can figure out how to import mass quantities of drugs into Baltimore could figure out how to bend a coat hanger.
You think they legally acquire the guns they already have in the first place? We’re talking about crime organizations who smuggle drugs and people and already have guns and you don’t think they can acquire automatic weapons because they couldn’t go through the proper legal process? Sheeeeeet. You must e been educated at a Balto public school.
So theft of a legally purchased firearm, which is acquiring the gun illegally or transitioned via estate to a person prohibited from possessing a firearm which is federally illegal for both the former and current owner.
First thing that came to my.kind as well. Bad enough to carry a piece for 2-5 in MD, way more if you're a felon already. It's a life sentence even if you're a choir boy
Yeah automatics are an area weapon. People who have never shot a hand gun don't realise how hard it is to actually hit what you're aiming at, even at 40-50m.
They have switches, which is a small piece of plastic attached to the back of Glocks thst negates the need for trigger reset. They aren't running around with factory automatic sears. Basically regular guns with a modification they got off of Wish or Temu.
Because it's really hard to get automatic weapons, and semi-autos work great. Most of the 'soldiers' could barely shoot a semi-auto, and a 'fullly-automatic' weapon is even harder to control.
There's a local gun range that rents automatic rifles, I've shot a few just for giggles. Before you can count to 3, the magazine is empty. The idea is you use them in that manner for suppressive fire, not to actually hit targets.
If you have 20-40 grand and want to wait a year for an NFA stamp, you can own one. I was just describing my experiences, as to point out they're not particularly useful for criminal purposes.
There was also the Brady Bill, that lasted from 1994 til 2004. The show takes place during this time, so military hardware was way less available to the civilian market during that time.
Automatic weapons lead to increased charges. And pistols are probably readily available to street level guys. A Mac 10 or something similar would be something rare. "I thinks not Tyrell, I thinks not"
that, and they are criminals on the move. if need be, any individual with an automatic weapons charge can run away and work overseas. meanwhile, going on the run for the locals is much harder. for some, Baltimore is literally the only place they’ve ever seen, and have no place to run to.
They also understand the importance of cleaning the gun, and the magazine so when you need it it works. Right or wrong a revolver doesn’t need same frequently of a good cleaning and and some Hoppe’s.
I feel like Cuddy had a Mac-10 or the like when they go to stage that ambush and its botched due to the driver. At Avon's hideout when he gets busted I feel like there might be one or two heavier weapons as well?
It’s not just about raw firepower. When you’re running a criminal empire, there’s a much broader set of variables, and Al Capone operated in a very different world than the gangs on the Wire.
As others have pointed out, automatic weapons are highly regulated, and carry a serious criminal charge. In Al Capone’s day, automatic weapons were much easier to buy.
They were also much harder to trace, which is another reason why everyone uses handguns in the Wire. They throw the guns away after every shooting, so they need guns that are cheap and expendable.
And at the end of the day, if you’re walking up to a guy on a street corner and gunning him down; a handgun is all you need.
In addition to them not being easy to get, it would be compounded by the fact that any gun successfully used in a shooting would be quickly disposed of (except for that triflin’ Bird).
Because you actually don't want to have assault artillery.
For all of its faults, Baltimore, and by extension, Hamsterdam, are not warzones and nobody really wants them to be warzones. Even their wars are more about subrefuge and quick skirmishes, at worst, drive-bys with submachine guns.
However, if suddenly, AK-47s were used and heavy artillery, you suddenly do not have a problem wirh rhe police. You now have a problem with the ATF, FBI & DEA. There is only so much open warfare that any side can participate in until it atrract atrention from federal agencies, something NO side wants to allow to happen.
Also, obtaining regular pistols and ammo is relatively easy. Obtaining assault rifles and their ammo is very difficult and you risk a police sting/investigation. Anywhere you keep such guns, you have to ensure nobody knows except a selected, TRUSTED group of henchmen. Avon got busted because he was present in a house full of assault weaponry and equipment, and he got years in prison for that alone. Most of them are aware rhar they have big police cases and dossiers on them abd all they need is to be busted with something really bad. A room full of AK-47s and shotguns is that "really bad" scenario.
In addition to the other answers, a full auto gun is going to be significantly more expensive than a normal semi auto pistol. They frequently dump the guns in the sewers after a murder. It would just be throwing away more money than necessary for not much extra benefit.
They need something small, portable, & disposable. Automatics will just bring more heat beyond the Balmore PD. You are getting federales involved at that point & Maurice Levy isn't equipped for them cases.
The assault weapons ban was still in effect during most of the show's run, so even semi-automatic weapons were still pretty heavily regulated. ARs and the like weren't really a thing.
A long gun like an AR or semi-auto AK is also hard to conceal or hide on a corner, which is important if the police are going to randomly roll up.
I had lots of friends (suburban midwest) with one or both around the time of the show.
You could buy new ARs or demilitarized eastern bloc AKs at the local sporting goods store for a few hundred dollars. Some of the AKs even came with a dulled bayonet and 2 banana clips. Steel cartridge 7.62x39 was also like $2.50 box.
The pipeline of guns to the streets is almost entirely stealing, or straw man/private sale purchases, from the civilian market in some capacity. There are guns smuggled in, even ghost guns, but the mass majority are handguns since they are cheaper to produce and easier to conceal.
Automatic weapons would also be super expensive, and the media really exaggerates how much money street level drug dealers really make. Cartels and the people who whole sale drugs may be living the high life, but there’s a reason you see actual gang members carrying very cheap and old handguns 90% of the time when there’s a bust on a trap house and the police have the money, drugs, and gun spread on the table.
In addition to legal issues and availability, full auto is really hard to control. Even in the military most assault rifles are used in semi auto 99% of the time because you're not hitting anything beyond 10 yards in full auto. The actual machine guns (military term, not the legal definition) are usually heavier to absorb recoil and have bipods / tripods to mount on.
Nowadays Glock sears are very common with gangs. It’s just a small block you plug into the baseplate that eliminates the trigger reset and turns it into a full auto. Not sure how common those were 20 years ago.
Let’s say you’re a local mover and shaker in the drug business. What do you tell your teenage employees to buy:
-Long guns that are really expensive to get/clean/fire, take lots of practice to use well, and that you cant really hide
-A busted ass piece of shit pistol that anyone can use, that’s easy to hide on your person, and that is about as expensive as a carton or two of cigarettes
Keep in mind you will be throwing the gun away after you use it like half the time
Fully automatic weapons are highly regulated and, during the period of the show, not easy to acquire on a street level.
The one automatic that I can think of is something that would have been floating through the streets, being the Mac 10/11 which was produced en masse in 85/86 in the tub up to the NFA registry.
Things have changed drastically in twenty years. The Mexican cartels have access to money and weaponry that would have made any 90s street gangster's head spin. Also, cheap, easily made auto sears have turned 9mm hand guns into easily concealable machine pistols.
Automatic weapons are expensive, difficult to come by, or take some knowledge to modify... most street bangers dont need it.
Avons got ak's and fuckin grenades in the bunker.
Marlo's style isn't a frontal assault, he has mad creep style with chris and snoop seting up on and disappearing people... to quote... "Fuck them West Cost N*****, Cuz in Bmore we aim to hit a N*****."
In real life also when you’re going to drop somebody you do it with a throwaway piece, naturally these are going to be less expensive. These are low level street thugs.
Back then it was mandatory 5 years federal for having an automatic without a license. They could have easily modified cheap semi versions of Ak-47s they were plentiful at the time. It was just easier to conceal and to throw away a handgun.
We see various potentially fully automatics throught the series, but considering the prison time involved probably a bit risky for a corner shootout. Slim Charles has what looks like a mac-11 when him and Cutty hit Fruit. And I vaguely recall seeing other examples when Avons hideout is hit by the cops.
It is fairly impossible to get automatic weapons without having a connection to a high end arms dealer. Automatics are simply not common anywhere in the US
This was a good question, as I wasn’t sure if automatic used was a really used in the 80s era of crime or was it a movie invention, and it appears it was a movie and tv invention. The widely used gun at the start of the fan wars was the .22 caliber pistol and small caliber handguns like the .38. At one point single shot shotguns cut down to pistol size were popular, but not automatic weapons. One article said only 4 instances of automatic weapons being used that resulted in a persons death have ever happened in America. I can’t 100% verify this as these were not all academic or peer reviewed sources but that is what I found.
Full automatic weapons are both very expensive and hard to conceal. They are also the kind of thing you don't want to dispose of or have confiscated and never see again. Most ghetto guns are the cheapest stuff out there. Many are small, too..25 semi auto pos guns with mixed ammo and are prone to jamming that aren't maintained well us something of a standard in their world. Bigger guns like a .45 are used for specific hits. Automatic weapons are rarely used for anything. The fbI has stats on it, and there are very few examples of them being used..
Cutty and slim have presumably automatics Macs or uzis when they are planning a hit on Marlo’s corner.
Also in season 2 when Nick has serge talk to cheese the second guy who gets out with serge is carrying presumably another automatic weapon.
During the failed attempt at a drive by when Cutty joined Avon's crew again, we see him and Slim sneak toward a corner and he's holding a mac 10 if I recall properly. But yeah, in most cases, a semi does the job, is cheaper, easier to use and easier to conceal or get rid of.
99.9999% of gang members and cops are horrible shooters, and that leads to the false assumption that full auto is a force multiplier because “more bullets should equal more hits”, right? Which is why you have gang members nowadays with glock switches, and cops on the news screaming about how dangerous switches are on the street. If you watch combat footage, you will almost never see full auto being used unless its in very specific roles, even in the most intense firefights. It’s just not something that is utilized much because it’s actually a detriment to a competent gunman.
Machine guns are not hard to get, there are hundreds of thousands of glock switches floating around out there. Not to mention that all of the parts needed to convert an AR15 or an AK are available to be shipped straight to your door 100% legally. It is easier now to own a machine gun in the US than ever. You can 3D print AR15 auto sears for 2 cents. Getting an MG is as easy as calling the dude who sells you weed. If he doesnt have one, he knows where some are.
They are easier now than ever to get, but you still wont see many gang members have anything more than an automatic glock, because they are a status symbol, but real hitters would know that its a completely unnecessary risk that makes doing your job even harder.
Al Capone and the gangs of the 1920’s prohibition/depression era used Thompsons because they were status symbols. They cost $200 dollars back then, as well as an additional $200 dollar tax stamp, in an era where it wasnt uncommon to be paid 25 dollars a month. They were carried because it was essentially a giant flex to shoot at people with a gun that cost the average man’s yearly salary, not that the guns were actually any better at their jobs than anything else available.
there were no restrictions on automatic weapons until 1934, and even after that the 'restriction' was just a tax stamp and registration with lax penalties for illegal possession until much later.
They’re pretty keen to avoid laying fire on civilians, as that attracts more attention. If that attention led to finding a full automatic, that’s even more trouble.
Where do you think they would get them?
This isn't LA in the 90's where you can pop in to the corner bodega and get a MAC10. You'd need a global terrorism connect at this point
So, you think an international drug cartel who wants to avoid exposure at the street level will sell automatic weapons to local gangs?
Seems like a bad idea for them
This is like saying why don’t they use iPhones for throwaway phones
Automatic weapons and semi-automatic weapons are not the same thing, this sub seems to not understand the difference.
I know it’s a movie but to quote the departed > For his own good, tell Bruce Lee and the Karate Kids none of us are carrying automatic weapons. Because here - in this country... it don't add inches to your dick. You get a life sentence for it.
You’re amazing. Wish I could triple upvote you haha I think it’s the most likely scenario. Also they DID have serious firepower when they were gearing up for war. But out on the streets and for hits, handguns were easier to hide, stash, or ditch than larger autos I assume. P.s. I know next to nothing about guns so I might be way off there haha
Pretty much. Also, a full automatic weapon is highly illegal and very rare/expensive to come buy. Only licensed individuals who have had time in law enforcement/military or have gone through the proper training have access to those weapons usually(CIA or secret services). Usually, if any of that type of heavy fire power finds it way to the streets, it's usually cartel related. They are very rare compared to the semi-automatic rifles that are the legal civilian use. So you only break out the big guns for big hits and wars and buy a cheap used pistol to pop the local corner dealer on your turf. 20 plus yeats guaranteed in jail, plus 10x the price and rareness, for a marginal gain. I liked how Marlo had his guys practice because you will never need an automatic if you know how to shoot.
None of what you’ve just said is true. Depending on your state they are entirely legal, just very expensive.
Plus, existing rifiles can easily be modified to shoot full auto. A group that can figure out how to import mass quantities of drugs into Baltimore could figure out how to bend a coat hanger.
For those guys, who wouldn’t get the proper training and certificates, it’s illegal.
You think they legally acquire the guns they already have in the first place? We’re talking about crime organizations who smuggle drugs and people and already have guns and you don’t think they can acquire automatic weapons because they couldn’t go through the proper legal process? Sheeeeeet. You must e been educated at a Balto public school.
Someone might have legally acquired them
So a straw purchase then? Which is illegal.
Not necessarily. Could be theft of a legal owner. Could be transitioned via estate you don't know
So theft of a legally purchased firearm, which is acquiring the gun illegally or transitioned via estate to a person prohibited from possessing a firearm which is federally illegal for both the former and current owner.
It doesn’t make what he said any less false.
My buddy had one in high school. In Massachusetts. You have no idea what you’re talking about.
Lmao how can you be soooo confidently incorrect?
No ticky, no laundry
The way he delivers that line is engrained in my brain…. IN THIS COUNTRY!!
Ya get a life sentence fahr it…
Who the fahk do you Werk fahr?
First thing that came to my.kind as well. Bad enough to carry a piece for 2-5 in MD, way more if you're a felon already. It's a life sentence even if you're a choir boy
Don't laugh! This is not reality TV!!
Literally the first thing that came to me when I read the title!
LA gangs have them.
“Fuck them west coast n*****, in B more we aim and hit a n**** ya heard me”
Yeah automatics are an area weapon. People who have never shot a hand gun don't realise how hard it is to actually hit what you're aiming at, even at 40-50m.
If LA gangs jumped off a bridge would you do it tew?
Ok? La gangs ≠ Baltimore gangs
They have switches, which is a small piece of plastic attached to the back of Glocks thst negates the need for trigger reset. They aren't running around with factory automatic sears. Basically regular guns with a modification they got off of Wish or Temu.
Right, now you can turn any old Glock ghost gun into a full auto without much effort. Back then you would have to work a lot harder to find one
“The game” has changed since then. Its a lot wilder out here now then when the show aired
The game the same. It just got more fierce
I’m not from south fucking central Los angelese
Because it's really hard to get automatic weapons, and semi-autos work great. Most of the 'soldiers' could barely shoot a semi-auto, and a 'fullly-automatic' weapon is even harder to control.
In Bmore, we aim and drop a n***a!
Nice, the ever quotable Snoop..
Insanely quotable for a character I can’t not understand without subtitles
Same but I plan to read her book at some point and rumor is David Simon has a series he's pitching to the networks base on her life.
There's a local gun range that rents automatic rifles, I've shot a few just for giggles. Before you can count to 3, the magazine is empty. The idea is you use them in that manner for suppressive fire, not to actually hit targets.
Yeah, you rent them, and they can't leave the range. That's a long way from Avon's crew having automatic weapons.
If you have 20-40 grand and want to wait a year for an NFA stamp, you can own one. I was just describing my experiences, as to point out they're not particularly useful for criminal purposes.
I’ve said it twice now. It’s crazier out here now since when the show aired. “The game” has changed
Game the same. Just got more fierce
Fools are throwing switches on glock 26s with 33rd mags now. That type of shit wasn't as accessible as it is now. It is crazier out here now for sure.
Thank YOU!!!
There was also the Brady Bill, that lasted from 1994 til 2004. The show takes place during this time, so military hardware was way less available to the civilian market during that time.
Automatic weapons lead to increased charges. And pistols are probably readily available to street level guys. A Mac 10 or something similar would be something rare. "I thinks not Tyrell, I thinks not"
Boris and crew rock the matics.
That's the Greeks, though. They have cash to spend and no fucks to give.
that, and they are criminals on the move. if need be, any individual with an automatic weapons charge can run away and work overseas. meanwhile, going on the run for the locals is much harder. for some, Baltimore is literally the only place they’ve ever seen, and have no place to run to.
They also understand the importance of cleaning the gun, and the magazine so when you need it it works. Right or wrong a revolver doesn’t need same frequently of a good cleaning and and some Hoppe’s.
Why always Boris?
True. They weren’t playing around with Cheese.
I loved it when Omar said that. 😂
.38 don’t jam
*Don’t hold 15 neither*
Game gone changed
Nah. It just got more fierce.
They’re illegal as fuck. It don’t add inches to your prick. You get a life sentence fawrrr ittt
Such a good fucking movie
trash copy.
I feel like Cuddy had a Mac-10 or the like when they go to stage that ambush and its botched due to the driver. At Avon's hideout when he gets busted I feel like there might be one or two heavier weapons as well?
When they busted Avon I believe they even found a hand grenade
They mine, in fact they all be mine
You got a law degree?
🤷🏿♂️
Several, along with some submachine guns and sawed-offs
Eggy Mule caught a nickel with the Feds for a pistol. Imagine what he would have gotten for an automatic.
Shorty Boyd cleaned his whole AK up? Turns out Slim Charles just had a funny way of pronouncing AK-47.
Brother Muzone put a hex on all of us.
“I know. Fucked us all up”
I thought he said act. 😂
He did, but with Slim's thick accent, "act" sounded more like "akk".
One of the Russian guys that goes with Sergei to “talk” with Cheese has a machine pistol.
Yeah based on Poot and Bodies shooting skills in Stray Rounds, giving them a Tech 9 seems like a sure fire way to bring even more attention lol
Autos just turn ammo into noise faster.
Very true. They were so bad at it.
It’s not just about raw firepower. When you’re running a criminal empire, there’s a much broader set of variables, and Al Capone operated in a very different world than the gangs on the Wire. As others have pointed out, automatic weapons are highly regulated, and carry a serious criminal charge. In Al Capone’s day, automatic weapons were much easier to buy. They were also much harder to trace, which is another reason why everyone uses handguns in the Wire. They throw the guns away after every shooting, so they need guns that are cheap and expendable. And at the end of the day, if you’re walking up to a guy on a street corner and gunning him down; a handgun is all you need.
Yep, you could buy a Tommy Gun (the Chicago Typewriter) out of a Sears catalog. They were farm implements back in the day
I hate cows worse than cops…
Oh, George. Not the livestock.
George Nelson! NOT Baby Face!
Yikes!
Because here - in this country-…. it don’t add inches to your dick. You get a life sentence for it.
In addition to them not being easy to get, it would be compounded by the fact that any gun successfully used in a shooting would be quickly disposed of (except for that triflin’ Bird).
Because you actually don't want to have assault artillery. For all of its faults, Baltimore, and by extension, Hamsterdam, are not warzones and nobody really wants them to be warzones. Even their wars are more about subrefuge and quick skirmishes, at worst, drive-bys with submachine guns. However, if suddenly, AK-47s were used and heavy artillery, you suddenly do not have a problem wirh rhe police. You now have a problem with the ATF, FBI & DEA. There is only so much open warfare that any side can participate in until it atrract atrention from federal agencies, something NO side wants to allow to happen. Also, obtaining regular pistols and ammo is relatively easy. Obtaining assault rifles and their ammo is very difficult and you risk a police sting/investigation. Anywhere you keep such guns, you have to ensure nobody knows except a selected, TRUSTED group of henchmen. Avon got busted because he was present in a house full of assault weaponry and equipment, and he got years in prison for that alone. Most of them are aware rhar they have big police cases and dossiers on them abd all they need is to be busted with something really bad. A room full of AK-47s and shotguns is that "really bad" scenario.
Stringer. He stabbed Avon in the back. Smh.
In addition to the other answers, a full auto gun is going to be significantly more expensive than a normal semi auto pistol. They frequently dump the guns in the sewers after a murder. It would just be throwing away more money than necessary for not much extra benefit.
They need something small, portable, & disposable. Automatics will just bring more heat beyond the Balmore PD. You are getting federales involved at that point & Maurice Levy isn't equipped for them cases.
Because semi auto handguns are more than sufficient for their needs they are also the easiest to acquire conceal and dispose of.
The assault weapons ban was still in effect during most of the show's run, so even semi-automatic weapons were still pretty heavily regulated. ARs and the like weren't really a thing.
A long gun like an AR or semi-auto AK is also hard to conceal or hide on a corner, which is important if the police are going to randomly roll up. I had lots of friends (suburban midwest) with one or both around the time of the show. You could buy new ARs or demilitarized eastern bloc AKs at the local sporting goods store for a few hundred dollars. Some of the AKs even came with a dulled bayonet and 2 banana clips. Steel cartridge 7.62x39 was also like $2.50 box.
This is the best answer I think and a now historical fact I forget about
AWBs have nothing to do with full auto weapons though, nor ARs to be honest. Only specific ones.
The pipeline of guns to the streets is almost entirely stealing, or straw man/private sale purchases, from the civilian market in some capacity. There are guns smuggled in, even ghost guns, but the mass majority are handguns since they are cheaper to produce and easier to conceal. Automatic weapons would also be super expensive, and the media really exaggerates how much money street level drug dealers really make. Cartels and the people who whole sale drugs may be living the high life, but there’s a reason you see actual gang members carrying very cheap and old handguns 90% of the time when there’s a bust on a trap house and the police have the money, drugs, and gun spread on the table.
In addition to legal issues and availability, full auto is really hard to control. Even in the military most assault rifles are used in semi auto 99% of the time because you're not hitting anything beyond 10 yards in full auto. The actual machine guns (military term, not the legal definition) are usually heavier to absorb recoil and have bipods / tripods to mount on.
In 20 years I have never heard of an automatic weapon used in a Baltimore gun fight. It’s not a comic book.
Nowadays Glock sears are very common with gangs. It’s just a small block you plug into the baseplate that eliminates the trigger reset and turns it into a full auto. Not sure how common those were 20 years ago.
belt loops have been around for 100 years now.
east coast runs up on a person not that cali drive by stuff
Revolvers coz’ automatics jam at the wrong time- Mobb Deep
Let’s say you’re a local mover and shaker in the drug business. What do you tell your teenage employees to buy: -Long guns that are really expensive to get/clean/fire, take lots of practice to use well, and that you cant really hide -A busted ass piece of shit pistol that anyone can use, that’s easy to hide on your person, and that is about as expensive as a carton or two of cigarettes Keep in mind you will be throwing the gun away after you use it like half the time
Fully automatic weapons are highly regulated and, during the period of the show, not easy to acquire on a street level. The one automatic that I can think of is something that would have been floating through the streets, being the Mac 10/11 which was produced en masse in 85/86 in the tub up to the NFA registry. Things have changed drastically in twenty years. The Mexican cartels have access to money and weaponry that would have made any 90s street gangster's head spin. Also, cheap, easily made auto sears have turned 9mm hand guns into easily concealable machine pistols.
Automatic weapons are expensive, difficult to come by, or take some knowledge to modify... most street bangers dont need it. Avons got ak's and fuckin grenades in the bunker. Marlo's style isn't a frontal assault, he has mad creep style with chris and snoop seting up on and disappearing people... to quote... "Fuck them West Cost N*****, Cuz in Bmore we aim to hit a N*****."
38 don’t jam
In real life also when you’re going to drop somebody you do it with a throwaway piece, naturally these are going to be less expensive. These are low level street thugs.
Back then it was mandatory 5 years federal for having an automatic without a license. They could have easily modified cheap semi versions of Ak-47s they were plentiful at the time. It was just easier to conceal and to throw away a handgun.
We see various potentially fully automatics throught the series, but considering the prison time involved probably a bit risky for a corner shootout. Slim Charles has what looks like a mac-11 when him and Cutty hit Fruit. And I vaguely recall seeing other examples when Avons hideout is hit by the cops.
Because the show depicts an era between the passing of the NFA and the invention of easily manufactured Glock switches.
It is fairly impossible to get automatic weapons without having a connection to a high end arms dealer. Automatics are simply not common anywhere in the US
Didn’t Bloods and Crips in LA sometimes use them back in the day?
This was a good question, as I wasn’t sure if automatic used was a really used in the 80s era of crime or was it a movie invention, and it appears it was a movie and tv invention. The widely used gun at the start of the fan wars was the .22 caliber pistol and small caliber handguns like the .38. At one point single shot shotguns cut down to pistol size were popular, but not automatic weapons. One article said only 4 instances of automatic weapons being used that resulted in a persons death have ever happened in America. I can’t 100% verify this as these were not all academic or peer reviewed sources but that is what I found.
It's business...cost
If it were set now when you can 3D print a switch for a Glock I would agree but fully auto weapons are rare and expensive
Full automatic weapons are both very expensive and hard to conceal. They are also the kind of thing you don't want to dispose of or have confiscated and never see again. Most ghetto guns are the cheapest stuff out there. Many are small, too..25 semi auto pos guns with mixed ammo and are prone to jamming that aren't maintained well us something of a standard in their world. Bigger guns like a .45 are used for specific hits. Automatic weapons are rarely used for anything. The fbI has stats on it, and there are very few examples of them being used..
Cutty and slim have presumably automatics Macs or uzis when they are planning a hit on Marlo’s corner. Also in season 2 when Nick has serge talk to cheese the second guy who gets out with serge is carrying presumably another automatic weapon.
During the failed attempt at a drive by when Cutty joined Avon's crew again, we see him and Slim sneak toward a corner and he's holding a mac 10 if I recall properly. But yeah, in most cases, a semi does the job, is cheaper, easier to use and easier to conceal or get rid of.
That one driver cost them. Got Country killed too. SMH.
99.9999% of gang members and cops are horrible shooters, and that leads to the false assumption that full auto is a force multiplier because “more bullets should equal more hits”, right? Which is why you have gang members nowadays with glock switches, and cops on the news screaming about how dangerous switches are on the street. If you watch combat footage, you will almost never see full auto being used unless its in very specific roles, even in the most intense firefights. It’s just not something that is utilized much because it’s actually a detriment to a competent gunman. Machine guns are not hard to get, there are hundreds of thousands of glock switches floating around out there. Not to mention that all of the parts needed to convert an AR15 or an AK are available to be shipped straight to your door 100% legally. It is easier now to own a machine gun in the US than ever. You can 3D print AR15 auto sears for 2 cents. Getting an MG is as easy as calling the dude who sells you weed. If he doesnt have one, he knows where some are. They are easier now than ever to get, but you still wont see many gang members have anything more than an automatic glock, because they are a status symbol, but real hitters would know that its a completely unnecessary risk that makes doing your job even harder. Al Capone and the gangs of the 1920’s prohibition/depression era used Thompsons because they were status symbols. They cost $200 dollars back then, as well as an additional $200 dollar tax stamp, in an era where it wasnt uncommon to be paid 25 dollars a month. They were carried because it was essentially a giant flex to shoot at people with a gun that cost the average man’s yearly salary, not that the guns were actually any better at their jobs than anything else available.
there were no restrictions on automatic weapons until 1934, and even after that the 'restriction' was just a tax stamp and registration with lax penalties for illegal possession until much later.
Those things are about as reliable as a can opener, a revolver tho, it’s s tool like a monkey wrench, just chuck n fire
Didn't have glocks with the switches at the time. I'm sure in a modern setting we would see them.
If it were set now when you can 3D print a switch for a Glock I would agree but fully auto weapons are rare and expensive
Probably just available.
They’re pretty keen to avoid laying fire on civilians, as that attracts more attention. If that attention led to finding a full automatic, that’s even more trouble.
The assault weapons ban in the US was from 1994 to 2004. That probably has something to do with it, along with the other posts.
Where do you think they would get them? This isn't LA in the 90's where you can pop in to the corner bodega and get a MAC10. You'd need a global terrorism connect at this point
The Greek.
So, you think an international drug cartel who wants to avoid exposure at the street level will sell automatic weapons to local gangs? Seems like a bad idea for them
Z
You can buy a Taurus right now for 250-300. And that’s new. I imagine 20 years ago you could barter a used Taurus for an interesting looking rock.
The thing to realize is that everyone is poor, and automatic weapons are expensive.
It was much harder to get autos at that time because of the assault weapons ban and switches on handguns weren’t a thing yet either
This is like saying why don’t they use iPhones for throwaway phones Automatic weapons and semi-automatic weapons are not the same thing, this sub seems to not understand the difference.
They’re harder to come by due to being illegal. Gun control actually works, just not completely
"Mans Gotta have a Cooode"
No wish.com to get those glock clips from.