First of all, God Forbid that we ever have another Civil War in this country.
secondly , you don't need fully automatic rifles at the start of guerilla operations. You need intel... eyes...everywhere. That's what guerilla warfare is all about...
you don't even need a rifle... you can use a knife or a pistol, or a car, truck, tractor, irrigation pipe, fence posts, telephone poles, mail boxes... all kinds of weapons that the guys with the baseball caps on backwards could jerry rig if need be, into a weapon. Heck look at what the cholos do with a car...electronics, hydralics, custom panelling. Let your imagination just follow the citizens finally having it out with the powers that be.
Civil War is the nasty stuff and Americans are really good at fighting...we're hard headed, brave and prideful.... we're not France.
to get automatic weapons just any lethal weapon to get close and kill someone with a rifle, then kill someone with an automatic rifle and there you are...
There are so many mini-14's and .223 rifles out there that making auto fire weapons would be a cottage industry.
Now you add this little book to the mix...
Multiplied by all the guys that were Green Berets and Special operators who have "helped" set up asymmetrical battlefield units...well I'd suspect that "Don't ask, Don't tell" would be the very bottom of the military's priority list.
Thanks!