Editing Thompson submachine gun (section)

===United States===
[[File:1921mc.jpg|thumb|Firing the M1928 Thompson]]
The perceived popularity of submachine guns such as the Thompson with violent gangsters in the 1920s and 1930s was one of the main reasons given for passage of the [[National Firearms Act]] by the [[United States Congress]] in 1934. One of its provisions was that owners of fully automatic firearms were required to register them with the predecessor agency of the modern [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives]] (ATF). The law also placed restrictions on the possession, transfer, and transport of the weapons.

There are several U.S.-made [[automatic firearm|automatic]] and [[semi-automatic firearm|semi-automatic]] variants, copies, or replicas. The semi-automatic versions are less regulated by federal law.