The District of Columbia deems machine guns unregisterable, thereby prohibiting possession of these firearms.¹ Unregisterable firearms cannot be sold or transferred in the District.² The District defines a machine gun as:

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 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.⁵

Federal law requires machine guns to be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), and generally prohibits the transfer or possession of machine guns manufactured after May 19, 1986.⁶ In December 2018, ATF finalized a rule to include bump stocks within the definition of a machine gun subject to this federal law, meaning that bump stocks will be generally banned as of March 26, 2019,⁷ however, the District additionally banned bump stocks by ordinance in 2019.⁸

 See our Machine Guns policy summary for a comprehensive discussion of this issue. 

1. D.C. Code Ann. § 7-2502.02(a)(2). See also D.C. Code Ann. § 22-4514(a) (prohibiting possession of a machine gun in the District).[↩]
2. D.C. Code Ann. §§ 7-2505.01, 7-2505.02(a).[↩]
3. D.C. Code Ann. § 7-2501.01(10).[↩]
4. D.C. Code Ann. § 7-2551.02.[↩]
5. D.C. Code Ann. § 7-2551.03(d).[↩]
6. 18 U.S.C. § 922(o); 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d).[↩]
7. Bump-Stock-Type Devices, 83 Fed. Reg. 66,514 (Dec. 26, 2018) (to be codified at 27 C.F.R. pts. 447, 478, 479).[↩]
8. D.C. Code Ann. § 22-4514(a).[↩]