Denver Bullets Inc., a Capitol Hill gun store, had reserved two conjoining spots along the firing line. Under a pair of white tents, three employees were kept busy renting out a large selection of Uzis and a series of fully automatic 9-millimeter rifles and AK-47s, all firing anywhere from 500 to 1,200 rounds per minute. There was also a relatively rare, fully automatic 12-gauge shotgun.
And that was just the smaller hardware brought by Denver Bullets. In front of the tents, facing the field, was a wall of larger artillery, mostly belt- or box-fed anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. The M-60, circa 1955, earned its reputation shooting out of helicopters in Vietnam. One impressive setup, dual German machine guns mounted on a single swivel, peppered the Colorado farmland with more than 2,000 shots per minute, or thirty per second, if anyone could count that fast.
Most of the guns are relatively easy for citizens to acquire, explains Greg from Denver Bullets. According to federal law, any machine gun manufactured before May 1986 is available to any person over the age of eighteen who can pass a background check and come up with the $200 tax. "If you can buy a gun, you can own a machine gun," he says.
Several of the guns on display were made after 1986 and could only be legally owned by law-enforcement officers or Class III gun dealers. So the Fun Shoot provided a rare opportunity for regular citizens: All of the guns were available for rent, at $25 for fifty rounds.
