Posted on 08/29/2019 6:15:27 PM PDT by PROCON
$200 tax stamps are legally required to own most NFA-regulated items, such as suppressors. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The 1934 law that regulates many of the cooler items in the gun world, the National Firearms Act and its associated taxes raises many questions. Here are some answers.
HOW DID THE NFA MAKE IT INTO LAW?
Introduced into the 73rd Congress on May 28, 1934, as H.R. 9741 by U.S. Rep. Robert “Bob” Doughton, a North Carolina Democrat, the legislation sailed through Capitol Hill in less than a month. For historical perspective, the country was amid the Great Depression and lawmakers in the same Democrat-controlled Congress also sped the Securities Act, which established the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the National Industrial Recovery Act, which established the Public Works Administration, to the waiting hands of President Franklin Roosevelt for signature. The measure passed both chambers on a voice vote, with no record of which lawmakers approved it.
The bill that made it through Congress was watered down compared to other proposals at the time, such as HR 9066.
WHAT DOES THE NFA REGULATE?
While the new law did not outright ban the items under its control, it did require that shotguns and rifles with barrels less than 18 or 16 inches respectively in length, machine guns, firearm “mufflers and silencers” and firearms such as cane guns described as “any other weapons” be regulated and a tax established that was due whenever the device was made or transferred. Likewise, those who produced such items would have to pay a special occupational tax. The base price for most of these taxes was set at $200 per item, per transfer. This was the equivalent of about $3,800 in 2019 dollars.
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This is just a small taste of the outcome if the Dems ever control everything like FDR’s reign. Gun control is being able to hit your target. IMO
While I do not have any disallowed items, the time has come to reassess the way we think about Laws and prepare for a restructure. It will be a very hard restructure of the social fabric and The Union. In short, the Fedgov has no authority but the power to put me or you into jail. The moral high ground is with those who follow a moral code. The National government does not do so.
We need to start a movement to repeal it.
It might take time but that is just an even better reason to start now.
The left thinks big and so should we.
One driving force for the National Firearms Act was the assassination attempt on FDR in early 1933. As originally drafted it would have required a stamp to own a handgun.
It is also interesting that the act did not actually ban weapons but rather put a very high tax on them. In those far-off days Congress didn’t feel it had the Constitutional authority to actually ban anything. But it did have the authority to tax things, so taxing is what they did.
Today, of course, the idea that there is any limitation on Congress’s powers is almost viewed as ‘quaint’.
An abomination from the start.
The NFA bans we the people from possessing the same arms as those carried by the standing army. This is a law the founding fathers would have never accepted, so they added an amendment to the Constitution making such laws unconstitutional.
This part of the Constitution is reserved for rich people.
Problem is that people who own registered pre-1986 machine guns are the ones who will fight the hardest to keep these laws in place. To repeal them would make all of their hard earned investments worth a lot less.
That $15,000 original Thompson submachine gun? Now it’s worth two grand.
I have read that in 1934, there was an attempt to put handguns on this list. It was said a RIFLE was better for home defense than a handgun.
From 1962-1984, the big push was to ban handguns. “Rifles would not be affected!”
Then, in 1984, unable to ban handguns they made a grab for the rifles, and missed, but they showed their hand.
Rest assured, if they can get a ban on “A-s-s-ault rifles”, they will then go for the handguns with the same methods.
Yes, because.....'High-Capacity Magazines' kill more easily.
Of course this magazine capacity ban has already infringed in several states.
There aren’t very many of them and at least some will believe in liberty and the 2ndA.
We need to ignore them and push for repeal, it’s time to move the overton window in the right direction.
“We need to start a movement to repeal it.”
Announcer voice: “A loophole in the 1934 National Firearms Act allows white nationalists to purchase a machine gun, even a belt-fed machine gun, by paying a $200 tax and filling out some paperwork. We must repeal the National Firearms Act, justice demands it!”
It's almost as if there was some kind of Perfect Storm of lies and opportunism.
I like it.
The democRats are going to figure that out some day.
Sounds logical but I can tell you nearly all owners would support repeal of the NFA. It won’t be a problem.
Yes, but their numbers are vanishingly small. Their money might not be.
Could have been a precursor of things to come.
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