The Thompson SMG was an American icon. Heavy, awkward, expensive and complicated, the very first prototypes were ready for operational testing the day after World War 1 ended. There the design would have otherwise languished and died had it not been for a surprisingly small number of very flashy criminals. In the aftermath of the Great Depression, psychopaths like John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd blazed their way onto Saturday afternoon matinee screens across the country.
(p.s. I got to hold one for a few minutes in 1968 in Vietnam that had been 'recovered' from South Vietnamese Army stocks.)
OMG! Don't you folks have lives? I had to go back thru 9 pages of memes to be sure I didn't repeat someone. And it's only Tuesday. Bein' old and unemployed is getting harder everyday.