i believe the ban only banned a certain number of existing items, and
didn't apply to this clause. it has always been legal to own automatic
weapons in arizona; i don't know about elsewhere. there are a few firing
ranges where one can go to rent one (at a hideous cost) for use in their
facility and places that have been set up in the desert where the firing
ranges will bring the weapons to for rent by the public.

i believe it's hard to get the federal approval, but i seem to recall it's
only a $500 yearly fee for the license.

Right...I guess my point was that because of what they see on TV, and
because of what organizations like moveon.org and people like Michael Moore,
people seem to think that they can go out to any gun shop and buy a machine
gun now that the ban on assault weapons expired.