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Kentucky has no laws regulating or restricting machine guns, although federal law applies.

Federal law requires machine guns to be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), and generally prohibits the transfer or possession of machine guns manufactured after May 19, 1986.1 In December 2018, ATF finalized a rule to include bump stocks within the definition of a machine gun subject to this federal law, meaning that bump stocks will be generally banned as of March 26, 2019.2

 See our Machine Guns policy summary for a comprehensive discussion of this issue. 

  1. 18 U.S.C. § 922(o); 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d).[]
  2. Bump-Stock-Type Devices, 83 Fed. Reg. 66,514 (Dec. 26, 2018) (to be codified at 27 C.F.R. pts. 447, 478, 479).[]