I didn't want to post this in the NFA section because I'm not asking a specific question about a specific NFA item, but rather a more general question about how NFA works WRT machine guns and destructive devices.

As I posted earlier, Wife and I went to Dragon Man's this weekend. On the way home she asked a question - how is it legal for him to own all that stuff? I told her that the NFA does allow private individuals to own fully automatic weapons provided they are NFA registered and tax is paid.

However, I also seem to recall that the registry "closed" for private owners with regard to machine guns in 1986, so the only "legal" machine guns in private hands are those that were registered prior to the 86 date.

I'm also aware that DEALERS with the appropriate licenses are allowed to own post-86 machine guns as "dealer samples" with the idea that these dealers are selling to the military, law enforcement, or entities outside the US, and that the machine guns they possess are not necessarily for their (i.e. the dealer's) USE, but rather are "samples" or "demonstrators" that are intended to facilitate that dealers' sales to some entity that CAN legally possess them (which, again, would only be: The military, a bona fide law enforcement agency, or some user outside the US.)

Do I have that right?

If I do, then here are my questions: If someone is licensed as a "dealer" of Class 3 weapons, do they have to show that they do, in fact, DEAL with some government or law enforcement agency? Do they have to, for example, sell X number of items every year to qualify as a "dealer?" Or is simply maintaining their "dealer" license sufficient? And I presume if they have a "dealer" license that allows them to sell to government agencies, that license also allows them to sell to other Class 3 dealers as well?

Again, this is all just idle curiosity. I have neither the time nor (more importantly) the money to pursue any class 3 hobbies. I haven't fired a fully automatic weapon since Uncle Sam was buying my ammo and if I never do again, I'm OK with that.