weedwhacker- You can still legally buy full auto in most states. The atf regulates it but it is not a "can't" issue. The costs are high but it can and is legally done.
Very true. I should have clarified, but I doubt folks consider a $10-20,000 firearm to be a realistic alternative.
New ones are "illegal", according to the BATFE, and they have all the guns and armored vehicles, so I just nod my head in mock agreement for now.
-edit
Those circumstances you speak of (in post below), being an SOT and able to "possess" an automatic firearm, are very narrow. In general, a new full-auto can only be made contingent on BATFE approval, and the only circumstance which approval will be granted, as far as I am aware, is with a request letter from a law enforcement agency.
I am a bit fuzzier on the remaining details, such as whether or not the newly-made full-auto firearm must then be destroyed after the demo, or if it can be kept by the SOT until he is no longer an SOT, and/or if it can be tranferred to another SOT before the original SOT loses his SOT.
It's all a bunch of BS anyhow, since the net effect is to deny the utterly vast majority of We, the People, certain types of firearms - i.e., they are effectively banned.