OverviewThe National Firearm Act of 1934 was enacted as a reaction to the behaviors of gangsters of the era. It was passed as tax legislation to discourage ownership without an outright prohibition. Keep in mind that the tax of $200 was quite a sum of money in 1934. Since gangsters were unlikely to register their NFA weapons, the government had another legal weapon to use against them. Because NFA ’34 was a tax law, enforcement fell to the Department of the Treasury. Similarity with alcohol tax law moved the enforcement to the Alcohol Tax Unit within the DOT. The law controls the ownership of a defined set of devices (machine guns, silencers, etc.) by requiring federal registration and a tax stamp for each device. The tax stamp is acquired by the registration process and requires paperwork, signature of local law enforcement, etc. along with a $200 tax The tax on 'any other weapons was changed to $5 later. The tax is payable at manufacture and each time the NFA device changes ownership. NFA34 also required serial numbers on firearms and made it unlawful to alter them and registered all manufacturers, importers and dealers. GCA '68 added destructive devices to the list of taxable devices. A DD is any weapon with a rifled barrel larger than .50 caliber. It also includes bombs, explosives of certain types and any ammunition that contains more than 1/4 oz of explosive, grenades, etc. See TITLE 26 > Subtitle E > CHAPTER 53 Subchapter B Part 1 § 5845 (f) for the definition of destructive devices. In 1986, the Firearm Owners Protection Act made illegal the manufacture of new machine guns for the civilian market. Although existing machine guns can continue to be transferred, the supply is now limited and prices have gone predictably skyward. The National Firearms Act is administered by the National Firearms Act Branch of the BATFE. The current provisions of the NFA, as amended, can be found at TITLE 26 > Subtitle E > CHAPTER 53 of the US Code. Readable information is available at http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/faq2.htm#m. The Constitutionality of the National Firearms Act of 1934The U.S. vs. Miller case was a direct attack on the constitutionality of NFA34. In the case bootleggers Jack Miller and Frank Layton had been arrested for crossing state lines with an unregistered, sawed-off shotgun. The defendants proposed that NFA34 was a violation of the Second Amendment rights. The federal district court agreed with the defendants and quashed the indictment. The government appealed this ruling directly to the Supreme Court and was granted a hearing. One key event occurred at the hearing. Miller, Layton and their lawyers all failed to appear. Miller and Layton had disappeared. As a result, there was no presentation by their side. The court declared: In the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession of a 'shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length' has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument. Certainly it is not within judicial notice that this weapon is any part of the ordinary military equipment or that its use could contribute to the common defense. The fact was that a sawed-off shotgun was commonly referred to as a 'trench gun' in World War I. But this knowledge was outside the scope of what the Supreme Court could use. In the end, the Supreme Court overturned the federal district court ruling, not because the Second Amendment was determined to be a collective right, but because the firearm in question was not a militia weapon. Of course, it was. But that information was not available to the justices. If Miller, Layton and their lawyers had made an appearance, the landscape of federal gun control laws would probably be much different today. A much longer examination of Miller is available at http://www.jpfo.org/miller.htm. For a very long examination, check out http://www.keepandbeararms.com/Puckett/MillerShotgun.pdf. NFA Terminology- Title 1 firearms are not NFA firearms.
- Title 2 firearms are NFA firearms.
The BATFE define classes of 'Special Occupational Tax' (SOT) as delineated by TITLE 26 > Subtitle E > CHAPTER 53 > Subchapter A > PART I > § 5801. - Class 1 SOT allows one to import NFA items
- Class 2 SOT allows one to manufacture NFA items
- Class 3 SOT allows one to deal (buy/sell) NFA items
A "Sear gun" is a firearm that contains a NFA registered auto sear (or drop in, depending on platform). The sear itself is the registered "machinegun".
Forms: - Form 1 is an application to make/register a firearm.
- Form 2 for an SOT to make and register a firearm.
- Form 3 is for tax free transfer between SOTs.
- Form 4 is the application to pay the transfer tax ($200) on a NFA item you intend to purchase.
- Form 5 is used for nontaxable transfers. This would include leaving the firearm with a gunsmith or for the purposes of inheritance.
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