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Anon watches The Terminator (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 week ago by Early_To_Risa@sh.itjust.works to c/greentext@sh.itjust.works
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[-] kreskin@lemmy.world 33 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Except for state laws-- usually california, no limits on ammo purchases. Purchase 5 million rounds if thats what you need for um, deer hunting. Nothing over 50 cal, but 50 cal is fine. Mount it on your pickup truck or your own armored vehicle I guess. 50 cal ammo is 3 bucks per round for the cheap stuff so that adds up. Not a gun for the poors to own. You can own a tank if you want to, but theres a lot of laws around making it street legal, depending on the tank's weight.

Operating a tank is a paperwork nightmare, which is another reason why Americans are so cynical about their government.

(/s)

[-] zaph@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 days ago

You can own a tank if you want to, but theres a lot of laws around making it street legal, depending on the tank's weight.

What if I just want a little joy ride through San Diego as a treat?

[-] Digestive_Biscuit@feddit.uk 29 points 6 days ago

I enjoy posts like this where Americans get hooked into the legalities of what guns can be bought, the ammo, whether it's permitted in some states, etc.

It's a movie about a robot from the future which time travelled. And people are questioning the legalities of buying guns in the 80's.

[-] peteypete420@sh.itjust.works 16 points 6 days ago

And also the answer is easy, yes. Then, now, tomorrow, yes you can just buy any gun anywhere you want at any time. To be clear, I am American. Living in Amerikkka. Before posting this I went into my local Starbucks and bought a mortar launcher and a semi automatic pistol. After that I went over to fed ex and printed 3 luigi pistols in 4 different colors.

Could you just imagine the suppression people face in other countries? Calling them colours or whatever it is in the metic system.

[-] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 23 points 6 days ago

Well, he did come from the future after all. It wouldn't be hard for Skynet to dig through criminal records, court cases, sales records, bank info, etc... and pinpoint where to get an optimal shopping experience for this mission.

[-] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 17 points 6 days ago

Part of the plot was that Skynet didn't have great records. The terminator had to use a phone book and go down the line killing Sarah Conners because it didn't know which one was the target

[-] tetris11@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 days ago

I find it weird that there probably was an early skynet that did know all these addresses off a bat but had no time machine, and then a later skynet that lost that info but did have that time machine.

I guess the rebels really did make a marked difference to the data banks of skynet to cripple it, even as its capabilities were extended

[-] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Consider that a fire in one building in 1973 destroyed millions of military records of which there were no copies, ruining bookkeeping for military personnel who had been discharged up to the 1960s.

The world was much less digitized even in the 1980s. A lot of records were still kept on paper or microfiche.

In the world of The Terminator Skynet's first move was to nuke population centers. That means destroying untold numbers of records. Sure some military and high level government records would be on ARPANET but Skynet wouldn't by default have been fed all of this mundane business and personal information because it simply hadn't been digitized and had no application for a military network.

Thats a lot of blank spaces.

[-] NutWrench@lemmy.ml 24 points 6 days ago

He also asks for an "Uzi 9mm" a full-auto machine gun, which you could NOT just buy over the counter at a retail gun store.

[-] JDPoZ@lemmy.world 27 points 6 days ago

There was a ban on selling machine guns to civilians that was passed in 1986.

The original Terminator film came out in 1984. So now? Yes, but then?

Probably accurate.

[-] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 17 points 6 days ago

Not entirely. Machineguns have, since 1934, been required to be registered with the federal government, and for a normal person individually require a federal approval to buy (a "stamp").

What happened in 1986 was the machinegun registry changed from open to closed. This means, that new machineguns are no longer added to the registry, meaning that for the average person (ie not somebody involved in the industry with their own special licensing) the number of machineguns for sale is limited and supply over time will always be going slowly down.

The process for buying a machinegun is as simple as buying any other NFA item like a silencer/suppressor or an SBR. The cost has skyrocketed thanks to limited supply.

[-] thirstyhyena@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

What if the ban happened because of the movie, someone realized robot from the future could really happen, so they just ban it.

[-] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

The real real was that the 1986 act was a mixed bag. The closing of the machinegun registry was part of a compromise where on the other end some record keeping and shipping requirements for FFLs were relaxed, and ATF inspection limits of FFLs were put in place.

[-] zzx@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

There are still transferrable Mac 10s out there though

[-] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

The above point was you don't just buy them over the counter in a one step, walk in transaction. The precise model doesn't matter.

[-] blazeknave@lemmy.world 17 points 6 days ago

20 years ago in Idaho my buddy who is a Marine took me into Walmart. The only restrictions on our purchases were the bounds of our debit cards.

[-] CidVicious@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 days ago

In the 80s it was. Nowadays you'd have to pass a background check.

[-] unknown1234_5@kbin.earth 9 points 6 days ago

I mean the accent isn't really relevant (though it would probably get a comment) but the large quantity of guns and ammo would raise suspicion.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago

American Police: "Want to buy some guns? Go right ahead."

Also American Police: "Withdrawing more than $10,000 in cash to pay for it? Get'm boys!"

[-] TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 days ago

the large quantity of guns and ammo would raise suspicion.

iirc there a law where more than 1,000 rounds in one purchase would have a federal note that someone bought a lot of ammo, so people just started buying 999 bullets instead lmao

[-] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

I don't know how many people actually care enough to try and game the system for getting flagged. I've never really heard that concern, especially considering buying 1k of ammo at a time is not as uncommon as it seems at first glance. Some sealed packaged ammo cans hold more.

FWIW I bought 10k rounds at one time once and nobody from the government ever followed up.

[-] unknown1234_5@kbin.earth 2 points 6 days ago

yeah, and I should have been clearer that I more meant the gun part. buying a lot of guns isn't that concerning, but buying a bunch at once is.

[-] sunstoned@lemmus.org 4 points 6 days ago

That depends heavily on where you are in the country.

[-] y0kai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 6 days ago

lol no. Maybe in the past but now there's a background check and often a mandatory waiting period before you can just walk out with a gun.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 8 points 6 days ago

In fairness you could probably just walk out with it if you do what Arnie does in the movie...

[-] doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 6 days ago

I mean kinda, but you gotta sit for a background check

[-] Yokozuna@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago

Question about the pistol here, is the mount reliable enough to keep it zero'd and accurate? That's a huge pistol and the kickback on the slide would be nuts, lots of energy moving around there to knock something loose, or at least a little off center, I feel like.

[-] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago

Modern day, sure no problem. Today's micro red dots can be mounted to the moving slides themselves and survive.

In the 1980s? Maaaybe...

The laser in the movie is mounted to the frame by way of the grip, so it will shake around much less than if it were on the slide. Mounting optics to the frame is how competition guns were (and sometimes still are) set up.

The question comes down to the durability of a laser device made in the 80s. The movie's laser was a specially made prop. On one hand it was made by the precursor to Surefire which is known for quality equipment, on the other hand I doubt the movie cared about it actually holding a zero.

[-] Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk 2 points 1 week ago

I'm looking for a really big gun that holds a lot of bullets.

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this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2025
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