Bill Would Regulate Most Semi-Auto Rifles Under NFA

guns.com ^ | Aug. 9, 2021 | Chis Eger

[PROCON]

Legislation introduced in Congress this month would require any semi-automatic rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine to be registered under the National Firearms Act.

The bill, H.R.4953 {To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to subject to the requirements of the National Firearms Act any semiautomatic rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine.}, was filed last Friday in the House by U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Florida Democrat who is outspoken in his support of gun control measures.

"Congress passed the National Firearms Act after the 1929 Valentine's Day massacre to tightly regulate certain machine guns & shotguns," said Deutch on social media Friday, going on to say, "It's time to update this law & regulate the weapon of choice in mass shootings: semiautomatic rifles."

Lacking from the Congressman's talking points is the fact that FBI crime statistics for 2019, the most recent year available, list rifles of all kinds as the type of weapon used in 364 of 13,927 tracked homicides across the country, or in about 2 percent of cases. By comparison, knives were used in 1,476 cases, or more than four times more often, while bodily weapons such as hands and feet were used in some 600 cases. Non-firearm/cutting weapons such as rocks and blunt objects were used in 1,593 cases.

Semi-auto rifles are extremely popular on the American firearms market at all levels. First seen in domestic production with the Winchester Model 1905 – which used a circa 1901 patent – such guns have been available for well over a century. The follow-on Winchester Model 1907 was marketed with detachable 5-, 10-, and 20-round box magazines at about the time Theodore Roosevelt was president. Estimates are that the AR-15 and similar semi-automatics dubbed Modern Sporting Rifles by the NSSF, account for an estimated 19.8 million rifles in circulation, lending concrete numbers to the argument that such guns are in common use.

H.R. 4953 has been referred to the Democrat-controlled House Ways and Means Committee and has eight co-sponsors.

[MercyFlush]

Yup. One of my Aussie friends managed to get twelve shiny new QBZ-191 shipped in. The thing that REALLY impressed me was his ability to get a enviable quantity of 5.8x42mm ammo for them!

To my understanding he’s not the only Aussie preparing to go head to head with his increasingly authoritarian government.

The world is becoming a more dangerous place without Donald Trump in the White Hut.

[Keyhopper]

The vaccine might thin the herd a bit.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

It is worse than that. The lies we have been told for the last sixty years...

1962 We ONLY want to register handguns. Rifles will not be affected!
1964, We ONLY want to register ALL firearms, not ban them.

1968 We ONLY want to register all guns, and ban the import of foreign Saturday Night Specials, and 5-shot bolt action army surplus rifles! (they got the ban).

1970, We ONLY want to ban small American handguns. Rifles will not be affected!

1976 We ONLY want to ban ALL handguns! Rifles will not be affected!

1981, Actress Lee Grant on Good Morning America screams...”THE NRA IS A RIFLE ORGANIZATION! THEY SHOULD GIVE UP THEIR HANDGUNS AND THEY CAN KEEP THEIR RIFLES!”

1984, They came for the rifles.

2000 they came for the single shot .50 cal rifles.

I guess my old Springfield 03 is to be banned as it is designed to take the semi-auto Pedersen Devise with an extended magazine.

If they can get a ban on one type of common firearm they will be back for the handguns, and more.

[TermLimits4All]

Love this. Thanks for posting it. I’m going to use the quotes.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Remington Nylon 66

Remington made another rifle that looks like a Nylon 66 but takes magazines. Some of their hunting rifles also take magazines, and some companies began to make extended magazines for them.

[abbastanza]

And what are they going to do with all the felons they’ll create?

[GreyHoundSailor]

I like my pre-charged pneumatic air bow for 50 yds - may not be fast, but nobody knows where it came from.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Regulate us will they?

The US military, National Guard, Police number about 2,500,000 men.
VS.
20,000,000 civilian semi-auto rifle owners, and maybe 75 million other firearm owners, and over 400,000,000 firearms out there. 250,000,000 high cap magazines in private hands.

And the government thinks they can “regulate” that?

[Recompennation]

Well may as well go full auto with the 10/22 if they’re going illegal so be it.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Are there enough prisons to lock the scofflaws up? Maybe they will let out the murderers, rapists, and robbers to lock up gun owners.

[kiryandil]

I’ve had NF rangers stop by and chat with me several times while shooting. An unlicensed NFA weapon would be bad.

Just make sure you have your backhoe with you.

[backwoods-engineer]

I'm sure the Demonrats and Republi-pukes will pass this unconstitutional bill of attainder while simultaneously experiencing a collective tyranny-orgasm, and of course Usurper Biteme will sign anything in front of him.

They need to understand: I AM NOT REGISTERING ANYTHING. Also: WAR IS COMING because THEY will bring it to our homes. We WILL FIGHT BACK.

[curious7]

Amen.
For it to be constitutional one would have to suspend all critical thought and accept that the constitution gave the government the power to tax and that power allows them to over-step and ignore the clear limit the 2nd Amendment to the constitution puts on the government with the phrase ‘shall not be infringed.’ That’s solid with no real wriggle-room. And it’s way past time to correct it as it’s as pernicious and grotesque as the Dred Scott decision that stood for so long.

[Recompennation]

Check!

[NFHale]

Re protecting politicians:
It’s mutual; we don’t give a f### about them either.

[TXnMA]

I recently got a call from my elderly aunt , who lives a short distance up our Texas Farm-to Market road:

AUNT: "Hurry down here -- and bring your gun! There's a big ol' rattlesnake crawlin' around under my sister's bird feeder!"

TXnMA: "Leave him be. They're cutting timber nearby and ran him out of his habitat. He's just looking for some more woods, and, he'll be gone before long".

AUNT: "You don't understand -- my (4' 8" tall, 94 year old) sister is fixin' to head for the shed -- to get a hoe and try to kill him!"

TXnMA: "Have her look through the window and keep track of him for me -- I'm on my way!"

So, I hurried down -- with my 54-year-old example of "America's Favorite .22 Rifle":

Snake raised head. One shot fired. Snake lost top of head...

...and joined a long list of other varmints similarly dispatched via head shots from my trusty ...

Ruger 10-22 "Semiautomatic Rifle with Detachable Magazine"...
... which this imbecilic law would treat the same as a machine gun!

[Ouderkirk]

The NFA is now invalid since no other law seems to be enforced.

[Cen-Tejas]

Good post. Thanks.

[freeandfreezing]

The paper is interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if the Taliban overtaking cities all across Afghanistan today are using weapons that they were able to upgrade as a result of the earlier weapons buy back program:

A similar problem could also potentially exist in the New Beginnings program in Afghanistan, which also targets the militia population. Though this program is succeeding in collecting weapons, many of them are old, rusting, and unusable. These quality issues may be indicative of a situation where militia leaders are complying with UN officials by participating in the program, reaping the incentives, but also turning in old weapons to get new and better ones. Each participant receives a $200 payment for turning in a weapon, which is about “twice the market value of an AK-47 assault rifle, the weapon of choice for Afghan militias”; this disarmament process could “result in the possible re-arming of these groups with more powerful weapons” (Kitchen, 2003).

[ctdonath2]

Unintended consequence: full legalization of all NFA items.

If litigated properly, before a worse case comes first and makes for bad case law.

Obviously, unlimited*-magazine semi-autos are “common use”, and thus would be likely relieved of prohibitory regulation - on grounds that ending “common use” via prohibitory regulation does not eliminate “common use” protections.
Then apply the same rationale to MGs, SBRs, etc.: that they’re not “common” objectively stems from prohibitory regulation, so the standing argument that they can be practically prohibited because of being “not common” cannot apply.

(Exact legal rationale may vary.)
(* - to wit: nothing inherently limits detachable magazine size.)