Fully automatic weapons are legal to own in Texas, but the rules that matter are federal. You need a machine gun that was manufactured and registered before May 19, 1986, a $200 federal transfer tax paid to the ATF, and an approved transfer application. Texas law adds no separate permit, registration, or inspection. Expect the firearm alone to start around $26,000 because no new machine guns can enter the civilian market.
The 1986 Cutoff That Controls Everything
The National Firearms Act of 1934 set up the registration and tax system that still governs civilian machine gun ownership. In 1986, the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act added the Hughes Amendment, which banned the transfer or possession of any machine gun not lawfully possessed before May 19, 1986.1Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. National Firearms Act
The consequence is the whole story. Only machine guns already registered before that date can be legally transferred to a private owner. The supply is frozen, so prices have climbed steadily for four decades. An M16 variant typically runs $26,000 to $37,000, and a registered HK MP5 sear recently sold for $55,000. If someone offers you a “full-auto” firearm for a fraction of that, it is not a legally transferable machine gun.
How Texas Law Treats Machine Guns
Texas Penal Code Section 46.05 makes possessing a machine gun a third-degree felony, punishable by two to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. The statute carves out an explicit exception: the prohibition does not apply if the machine gun is registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record maintained by the ATF.2State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 46.05 – Prohibited Weapons
Practically, that means Texas defers entirely to federal law. Satisfy the ATF and you are legal under state law too. There is no Texas machine gun permit and no state-level registry to file with.
Who Can Legally Buy One
You must be at least 21. Federal law bars licensed dealers from selling any firearm other than a rifle or shotgun to anyone under 21, and machine guns fall outside those categories for this purpose.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
You also cannot be a “prohibited person” under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). That list is broader than most buyers assume:
- Anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison, whether or not time was served
- Fugitives from justice
- Unlawful users of, or those addicted to, controlled substances
- People who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution or adjudicated as mentally defective
- People subject to a qualifying domestic violence restraining order
- Anyone with a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction
- People discharged from the military under dishonorable conditions
- People who have renounced U.S. citizenship
- Unlawful noncitizens and, with limited exceptions, nonimmigrant visa holders
Any of those disqualifiers leads to a denied application, and taking possession anyway is a separate federal crime.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
The ATF Transfer Process
Buying a transferable machine gun runs through a specialized dealer, a federal application, and a background investigation.
Form 4 and the Dealer
The sale has to go through a Federal Firearms Licensee holding a Special Occupational Tax status. You and the dealer complete ATF Form 4, “Application for Tax Paid Transfer and Registration of Firearm.”4Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Application for Tax Paid Transfer and Registration of Firearm – ATF Form 4 (5320.4) The application requires passport-style photographs and fingerprint cards for every individual applicant, or for every responsible person on a trust or entity transfer.5Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. NFA eForm 1 Submission External Guidance
The $200 Tax and CLEO Notification
You pay a one-time $200 federal transfer tax with the Form 4. For machine guns, that $200 rate still applies in 2026. You also send a completed copy of the Form 4 to your local chief law enforcement officer, defined as the chief of police, sheriff, head of the state police, or a local district attorney. This is notification only. The CLEO does not approve or deny anything.6Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF Form 5320.4 – Application to Transfer and Register NFA Firearm (Tax-Paid)
Waiting for the Stamp
The ATF then runs its background investigation. For applications finalized in February 2026, electronic individual Form 4s averaged about 10 days, and trust submissions averaged 26 days. Paper submissions landed in between.7Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Current Processing Times Volume and complexity can push those numbers considerably higher. You cannot take possession until the approved Form 4 comes back with the tax stamp affixed.
What It Actually Costs
The firearm itself dwarfs every other line item.
- The machine gun: typically $26,000 and up for an M16 variant; rarer models and registered sears reach $50,000 or more
- Federal transfer tax: $200
- Dealer transfer fee: usually $100 to $300
- NFA trust setup, if you use one: generally a few hundred dollars
Something that sold for around $1,000 in the late 1980s can trade for thirty times that today, and the trend has been steady in one direction.
Individual Registration vs. an NFA Trust
When a machine gun is registered to you personally, no one else can lawfully possess it. Not your spouse, not a friend at the range. Handing it over and stepping away puts the other person in violation of federal law.
An NFA trust lists multiple trustees, each of whom can possess and use the firearm without the others present. Trusts also simplify what happens later. A properly drafted trust survives the original owner’s death, so the firearm stays in the trust rather than moving through a full transfer to heirs, and it skips probate because the successor trustee takes over directly. The tradeoff: every responsible person on the trust has to submit photographs and fingerprints with each ATF application, so a larger trust means more paperwork up front.
Conversion Devices Are Machine Guns
The federal definition of “machine gun” reaches further than the weapon itself. It covers the frame or receiver, any part designed solely to convert a weapon into a machine gun, and a collection of parts from which a machine gun could be assembled if you possess them.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 5845 – Definitions
The ATF classifies switches, drop-in auto sears, lightning links, and swift links as machine guns. Possessing an uninstalled “Glock switch” or auto sear without NFA registration carries the same penalties as possessing an unregistered machine gun.9U.S. Department of Justice. Machinegun Conversion Devices A $30 part advertised online as making a pistol full-auto is a federal felony in a package.
Forced reset triggers sit in a different position. In July 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled that Rare Breed FRT-15s and Wide Open Triggers are not machine guns under the NFA. A subsequent settlement requires the ATF to return seized units and bars enforcement of the machine gun statutes against people possessing those specific devices.10Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Rare Breed Triggers FRT-15s and Wide Open Triggers WOTs Return The settlement is narrow. It does not cover switches, sears, or other conversion devices, which remain classified as machine guns.
Taking a Machine Gun Out of Texas
Texas legality does not travel with you. Federal law requires written prior authorization before transporting a machine gun in interstate commerce. You file ATF Form 5320.20, identifying the firearm, origin, destination, and purpose, and wait for approval before crossing the state line.11Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Application to Transport Interstate or to Temporarily Export Certain NFA Firearms
Keep the approved Form 4 (your tax stamp) with the firearm. Federal regulations require you to produce proof of registration on request, and if you store the firearm somewhere other than the address on your registration, your records should reflect that.12Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. NFA Handbook – Chapter 12 – Recordkeeping Confirm the destination state permits machine gun possession before you go. Not every state matches Texas, and arriving in one that bans them creates an immediate felony regardless of your federal paperwork.
Penalties for Getting It Wrong
Violating any provision of the National Firearms Act, including possessing an unregistered machine gun, failing to pay the transfer tax, or making a false statement on an application, carries up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $10,000.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5871 – Penalties Possessing a post-1986 machine gun that was never lawfully registered is a separate violation under 18 U.S.C. § 922(o). Using or carrying a machine gun during a crime of violence or drug trafficking offense triggers a mandatory 30-year minimum, and a second such offense means life in prison.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 924 – Penalties
At the state level, possession of a machine gun that is not properly registered with the ATF is a third-degree felony under Texas Penal Code Section 46.05, punishable by two to ten years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and a fine of up to $10,000.2State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 46.05 – Prohibited Weapons Federal and state charges are not mutually exclusive.