Using Amnesty to Roll Back Second Amendment Infringements
Kimber Gun Rights Bulletin:
A little-known law, passed as part of the Gun Control Act of 1968 offers the Trump administration a powerful lever in its stated goal of rationalizing America’s firearms laws. It would be an effective way of rolling back some of the Second Amendment infringements of the National Firearms Act of 1934.
The National Firearms Act (NFA) is an ill-conceived, poorly-written omnibus gun control law passed by an ascendant Roosevelt administration. It was designed to outlaw the possession of handguns through the imposition of draconian taxes and regulations.
The $200 tax stamp it imposed for a single item was equivalent to a year’s income for an average laborer at the time. Thrown in the mix were machine guns (just to add some pizazz…they weren’t a real problem), silencers (for no known reason), and sawed-off rifles and shotguns (apparently because it made no sense to outlaw handguns, when anyone could make a handgun from a rifle or shotgun with a hacksaw and 15 minutes).
Fortunately, outlawing handguns at the time was a bridge too far for Congress. What was left was passed as a sop to Roosevelt. After all, it only applied to machine guns, silencers, and short-barreled rifles and shotguns that crossed state lines. Few people owned or used those items anyway. Even fewer took them across state lines.
Not many people paid attention to the law. There was no provision for those who failed to register their items during the initial grace period to register them afterward. A few registrations trickled in during the following decades under lenient Treasury Department tax policy. The law become a bigger problem, though, with the Supreme Court decision Wickard v. Filburn in 1942. In that decision, the court expanded federal law to apply to items that didn’t cross state lines.
When the Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed, Congress concurrently passed a bill to allow an amnesty for people who still had unregistered NFA items. No fingerprints or tax was required. Fill out a form and send it in, and your NFA item was registered.
The initial amnesty was for 30 days. The law contained a provision for further amnesties at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. They only needed to be announced in advance in the Federal Register.
From PUBLIC LAW 90-619-OCT. 22, 1968, found on page 1236 of United States Statutes at Large Volume 82.djvu/1278:
(d) The Secretary of the Treasury, after publication in the Federal Register of his intention to do so, is authorized to establish such periods of amnesty, not to exceed ninety days in the case of any single period, and immunity from liability during any such period, as the Secretary determines will contribute to the purposes of this title. TITLE III — AMENDMENTS TO TITLE VII O F THE OMNIB U S C R I M E CONTROL A N D S A F E S T R E E T S ACT O F 1968
I don’t believe this statute has ever been repealed or superseded. Back in 1968, there was an expectation that amnesties would be a common occurrence used to bring unregistered NFA items into the legal fold.
Many gun owners believe the NFA should be repealed, as an obvious infringement on the Second Amendment. That may, however, be a step too far for the Trump administration for the first term. But the NFA is terribly flawed legislation and is ripe for reform.
It’s insane to regulate silencers at levels far more strict than it’s done Europe. In New Zealand any child with the money can walk into a hardware store and buy one for $20. It is insane to regulate short barreled rifles and shotguns more strictly than handguns.
In 1986, in a nasty legislative maneuver, the Democrats managed to place a ban on the future production of strictly regulated machine guns for civilian ownership. It was added as an amendment to the 1986 Gun Owner Protection Act. This punished legal owners of machine guns, who were already highly regulated by the NFA.
Never mind that no citizen had murdered anyone with a legally owned machine gun in the 54 years of the NFA. Future ownership of highly regulated machine guns had to be banned.
The Hearing Protection Act would change the regulation of silencers from being treated the same as machine guns to being treated like rifles or shotguns.
Short-barreled rifles or shotguns should be eliminated as a special class. Instead, handguns should be re-defined as any firearm that is designed to be fired in a configuration shorter than 26 inches. Twenty-six inches is the current standard for short-barreled rifles and shotguns.
The ban on highly regulated civilian ownership of machine guns made after 1986 should be repealed. The amnesty provision offers the lever to accomplish these reforms.
If Democrats want to filibuster the Hearing Protection Act, offer a 90 day amnesty on the registration of silencers for the NFA. No tax, no fingerprints, just fill out a form and send it in. If the Democrats refuse to relent, just rinse and repeat. Pound the new media and Twitter with the insanity of the current law. One hundred million gun owners will appreciate the Trump administration’s defense of the Second Amendment.
The same thing can be done for reform of the insane short-barreled rifle and shotgun provisions and the repeal of the 1986 ban on manufacture or licensing of machine guns under the NFA.
These tactics can be used sequentially or concurrently. The NFA infringements can’t be logically defended. They will, of course, be emotionally attacked. But the power of the establishment media to define and control the debate has been broken.
Trump supporters are Second Amendment supporters. They work. They organize. They vote. Their support is committed. It is deep and strong. Most of them voted for Trump, but some were uncertain and hesitant because of statements President elect Trump made 15 years ago. These reforms will make President Trump a hero to Second Amendment supporters.
Opponents of these reforms are billionaires and the usual gun control suspects who want to disarm the public. They have deep pockets, but their popular support is shallow and weak, propped up by their cash and the establishment media. They will never support a Trump presidency, no matter what.
Besides, what Democrat could be against an amnesty that brings formerly illegally owned items into the regulatory fold under existing law?
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Correction of ERRORS:
By https://brittius.wordpress.com
>Lawful length of shotgun barrel is EIGHTEEN inches, when measured from the bolt face of a closed breech. Insert dowel, mark with pencil remove dowel and measure.
>The overall length of the shotgun must be TWENTY-SIX inches or more.
>Minimum length of a rifle barrel when measured against the bolt face of a closed breech, is SIXTEEN inches. Measure the same as shotgun method by inserting a dowel rod into the barrel until it touches the bolt face. mark the dowel with a pencil, remove dowel and measure.
>Overall minimum length of a rifle is TWENTY-SIX inches or more.
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©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included. Gun Watch
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https://greyenigma.wordpress.com/2016/11/25/using-amnesty-to-roll-back-second-amendment-infringements/
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Are Guns Legal in Your Town, but Not Next Door?
NOVEMBER 24, 2016
New York won’t recognize the licenses from Connecticut or Massachusetts. New Jersey won’t recognize New York or Pennsylvania. California cops won’t recognize your license from Arizona, Nevada or Oregon.
I’m talking about the license to carry a concealed weapon in public, and with over 15 million licensed concealed carriers in the U.S., recognition between states is a study in contrasts. Some 15 states say a law-abiding adult can legally carry a loaded firearm in public without any permit at all. In contrast, a visitor carrying without a recognized license in California is usually charged with a felony and faces years in jail. Welcome to the bizarre nightmare endured by honest gun owners every day.
Recognizing the permits and licenses issued by other states is broadly called reciprocity. Politicians say a number of factors are involved. The decision to recognize your carry permit from another state isn’t a matter of public safety. Concealed carry holders are the most law abiding segment of society. Concealed carry holders are more law abiding and less likely to commit a legal violation with a firearm than are the police.
Permit reciprocity isn’t a an issue of protecting the public from risks. For comparison, we recognize drivers licenses between states and territories. The licenses vary widely in the training, the age, and the levels of insurance required before you may legally operate a motor vehicle on public roads. The public risks are real since automobile accidents injure far more people than firearms accidents.
Recognizing out-of-state legal documents is nothing new. We recognize the legal certificates and decrees issued by other states every day. For example, we recognize death certificates, divorce decrees, and adoption certificates even though those laws vary widely from state to state. Federal judges mandated the recognition of marriage between states even though the states have significantly different marriage laws.
Denying reciprocity isn’t a matter of state laws lagging behind public practice. Legally carrying a firearm in public is increasingly common, and has been legal since before the country was founded. The restrictions on firearms owners are not based on safety or legal philosophy at all. These restrictions are about money and political power.
Firearms restrictions are rooted in racism. Southern Democrats wrote racist gun laws as part of the Jim Crow laws imposing segregation after the Civil War. Firearms restrictions spread as minorities moved across the country. These laws were a way for wealthy local majorities to oppress poor minorities, particularly transient minorities who lacked local political representation.
These regulations certainly don’t stop crime. The cities with the strictest regulations have among the highest rates for violent crime. Even the police say honest citizens should carry guns for public safety. So, why are guns over-regulated today?
It is called “Policing for Profit”. I’ve seen California cops deliberately ticket out of state drivers. This is easy robbery for the local government. The cops know the out-of-towners will pay the bogus tickets. Few of us can afford the time and expense to return to California simply to go to court to fight the trumped up charges. How do we stop this corruption, be it against drivers or against over-regulated gun owners?
We don’t have to guess at the answer. Economists who studied the incentives of government actions have modeled how power is applied to politicians. Politicians act to maximize their political “profit”. They concentrate benefits and spread the costs. Special interests give campaign donations to anti-rights politicians. The politicians incrementally disarm the entire populace, including visitors from out of state.
Economists learned that pro-rights states should play a legal game of “tit-for-tat”; “We’ll treat your citizens the way you treat ours.” That puts the pressure back on the anti-rights politicians. In economic terms, it makes their anti-rights bigotry politically expensive. In practical terms, pro-rights states could associate their concealed carry permits as part of their driver’s licenses. Then the politicians say, “If you won’t recognize our “driver’s licenses”, then we won’t recognize yours.”
Ultimately we need a political solution to a political problem. Government officials in big-government states do more than harass gun owners for non-violent violations. These officials also grant concealed carry permits to their political supporters. These politicians grant licenses in return for kickbacks and political favors. They view the kickback system as part of their personal benefit package that comes with their government position. Graft is right there next to their vacation pay and lifetime pension.
A federal judge can put a stop to that corruption once and for all, but local officials will never go willingly.
The federal government can use a political hammer to force reciprocity, the same way Obama forced us to accept refugees and unisex bathrooms. Concealed carry licenses in anti-gun states are issued by county sheriffs. In a battle of political attrition, the feds have more lawyers and money than a county.
Please carry where you legally can do so.
https://slowfacts.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/are-guns-legal-in-your-town-but-not-next-door/
Related previous post on this blog
https://reclaimourrepublic.wordpress.com/2016/11/17/video-freedom-to-carry-should-replace-right-to-carry-nationally-stand-your-ground/
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