What is a Tommy gun?

Answer 1

== == * It's slang for the old machine guns. The Mob during the 20's would call them Tommy Guns. The characteristic appearance was a large circular magazine for storing a large quantity of 303 ammunition. The guns were used by British soldiers, nicknamed Tommie's, in WWI. After the war the weapon was made available to law enforcement worldwide, and was the favorite weapon of American gangsters during the Prohibition era. * The nickname derived from its official name, the Thompson Sub machine Gun and, simultaneously, the expression " a Tommy's gun ". This nickname stuck internationally, and is not an American slang expression at all.