Legal loophole allows new belt-fed AR-15 that sprays bullets like a machine gun

A new belt-fed AR-15 military-style assault rifle can fire rounds as fast as fully-automatic machine guns -- and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) says that a legal loophole means that the gun is perfectly legal in the United States.

CNN reported this week that Texas-based Slide Fire's new SFS BFR semiautomatic rifle would be available this fall for $6,000. The weapon can potentially hold thousands of round of ammunition because it is fed by a belt instead of a traditional magazine.

And according to Shooting Times, the company's special stock uses the rifle's recoil to trigger the next round, resulting in a possible fire rate of 800 rounds per minute.

"It sprays like a fire hose," Slide Fire sales and marketing manager Brandon Renner told CNN. "We recommend no more than 30 rounds on the belt, but one person could make it as big as they want."

The ATF reviewed the Slide Fire's "bump-stock" in 2010 and found that it was "not regulated as firearm under the Gun Control Act or the National Firearms act," according to a letter on the ATF website.

"I can confirm that ATF did approve the device referenced in the letter and that the Slide Fire is legal," ATF spokesperson Christopher Amon explained to CNN.

A spokesperson for America's largest gun dealer, Wal-Mart, told CNN that the company did not sell Slide Fire products and had no plans to offer the belt-fed rifle.

Watch this video from CNN, broadcast Sept. 12, 2013.