You can legally own a machine gun in Florida

It's still unclear what type of gun was used during the attack in Vegas; however, gun experts are speculating that the gunfire on the recordings, captured during the rampage, sounds like it was coming from an automatic weapon, which falls under federal regulations.

New automatic guns or machine guns have been banned from the general public for more than 30 years.

Yet, if a person has the right amount of cash and patience, legally they can purchase an automatic rifle.

Much like Nevada, it is legal to own an automatic weapon like a machine gun in Florida but there are restrictions.

Federal law prohibits civilians from purchasing new automatic guns made after May 19, 1986.

Weapons made prior to that date can be legally transferred from one owner to the next.

To purchase a machine gun, federal regulations require the owner to pay a $200 fee in addition to the price of the gun, which could skyrocket to as much as $30k.

The owner must also undergo an extensive federal background check which could take a year to complete, according to First Coast News crime Analyst, Mark Baughman.

"It is a long process and it is scrutinized heavily before they will allow you to have a fully automatic weapon," Baughman said.

Officials believe, Stephen Paddock, the suspect in the Las Vegas concert terror attack, possibly used an automatic weapon ambush that claimed the lives of 59 people and injured hundreds of others.

How Paddock got his hands on the deadly weapon, if he used an automatic gun, is unclear.

"The only other way for it to be fully automatic is to modify the weapon," Baughman explained.

Modifying a semi-automatic gun into a fully-automatic gun is possible. It's also possible to find the instructions online.

Baughman says the process isn't so easy.

"More than likely if they don't have a gunsmith background, they are going to have some difficulty doing it and they'll probably have some jams or misfeeds. It's not as easy as it looks," said Baughman.

It's also illegal.

Law enforcement says Paddock could've possibly modified the weapon he used in the attack.

Although it's illegal to modify a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic weapon, there are legal devices that *mimic* automatic fire, the ATF claims they closely monitor the devices and discontinue those that make guns fully automatic.