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National Firearms Act
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The National Firearms Act (NFA), cited as the Act of June 26, 1934, Ch. 757, 48 Stat. 1236, as amended, currently codified as Chapter 53 of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 5801 through 26 U.S.C. § 5872, is a United States federal law passed in 1934 that, in general, imposes a statutory excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of all Title II weapons and mandates the registration of those weapons.
Title II weapons are defined as all sound suppressors or silencers, all machine guns, all rifles with a barrel length less than 16 inches (406 mm) (SBR) and shotguns with a barrel length less than 18 inches (457 mm) (SBS), shoulder fired weapons with an overall length less than 26 inches (660 mm), weapons classified as "Any Other Weapon" (AOW) and weapons classified as "destructive devices" (DD). For weapons with folding, collapsing or telescoping stocks, the overall length is measured with the stock fully extended.
The Act was passed after the repeal of Prohibition, and it mandates that transfers of the covered firearms across state lines be reported to the United States Department of the Treasury (this function has since been transferred to the Justice Department). The transfer tax of $200 placed on the transfer of firearms controlled by the Act was roughly equivalent to five months' salary in 1934.[1]
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All NFA items must be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). Private owners wishing to purchase an NFA item must obtain permission from both the ATF and the county sheriff or city or town chief of police, pass an extensive background check to include submitting a photograph and finger prints, fully register the firearm, receive ATF written permission before moving the firearm across state lines, and pay a tax. The request to transfer ownership of an NFA item is made on an ATF Form 4.
NFA items may also be transferred to corporations (or other legal entities such as a trust). When the paperwork to request transfer of an NFA item is initiated by an officer of a corporation, permission from local law enforcement is not required, and fingerprint cards and photographs do not need to be submitted with the transfer request. Therefore, an individual who lives in a location where the chief law enforcement officer will not sign a transfer form can still own an NFA item if he/she owns a corporation.
The tax for privately manufacturing any NFA firearm (other than machineguns, which are generally illegal to manufacture) is $200. Transferring requires a $200 tax for all NFA firearms except AOWs, for which the transfer tax is $5 (in addition to the $200 manufacturing tax). Dealers who pay a special yearly occupational tax are exempt from these taxes for transfers to or from other special occupational taxpayers (SOTs). The registration or transfer process takes approximately 4-6 months to complete. Additionally, the firearm can never be handled or transported by any other private individual unless the firearm's registered owner is present.
The NFA makes certain conduct a criminal offense, including but not limited to: engaging in business as a manufacturer, importer, or dealer with respect to firearms without having registered or paid a special occupational tax; receiving or possessing a firearm transferred to oneself in violation of the NFA; receiving or possessing a firearm made in violation of the NFA; receiving or possessing a firearm not registered to oneself in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record; transferring or making a firearm in violation of the NFA; or obliterating, removing, changing, or altering the serial number of the firearm.[1]
Violations of the National Firearms Act are punishable by up to 10 years [2] in federal prison and forfeiture of all devices or firearms in violation, and the individual's right to own or possess firearms in the future. The Act provides for a penalty of $10,000 for certain violations.[3] A willful attempt to evade or defeat a tax imposed by the Act is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $100,000 fine ($500,000 in the case of a corporation), under the general tax evasion statute.[4] For an individual, the felony fine of $100,000 for tax evasion could be increased to $250,000.[5]
Importation of NFA weapons was banned by the 1968 Gun Control Act which implemented a "sporting" clause. Only firearms judged by ATF to have feasible sporting applications can be imported for civilian use. The manufacture of new machine guns that civilians could purchase was effectively banned by language in the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986. All machine guns legally registered prior to the date of enactment are still legal for possession by and transfer among civilians where permitted by state law. The static and relatively small number of transferable automatic firearms has caused their price to be often over $10,000, although transferable M10 and M11 submachine guns (more commonly known as "Mac 10's") can still be purchased for around $3,500. Machine guns manufactured after the FOPA's enactment can be sold only to law enforcement and government agencies, exported, or in some cases held as inventory by licensed manufacturers and dealers.
In the 1930s, the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas ruled the statute unconstitutional in United States v. Miller. The defendant Miller had been arrested for possession of an unregistered short barreled shotgun. The government's argument was that the short barreled shotgun was not a military weapon and thus not a "militia" weapon protected by the Second Amendment. The District Court agreed with Miller's argument that the shotgun was legal under the Second Amendment.
The District Court ruling was overturned on a direct appeal to the United States Supreme Court (see United States v. Miller). No brief was filed on behalf of the defendants, and the defendants themselves did not appear before the Supreme Court. No evidence that such a firearm was "ordinary military equipment" had been presented at the trial court (apparently because the case had been thrown out -- at the defendants' request -- before evidence could be presented), and the Supreme Court indicated it could not take judicial notice of such a contention.
The Supreme Court ruled that the NFA provision (criminalizing possession of certain firearms) was not unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
Subsequent rulings have been allowed to stand, indicating that short-barreled shotguns are generally recognized as ordinary military equipment if briefs are filed (e.g., see: Cases v. United States[6]), describing use of short-barreled shotguns in specialized military units.)
The validity of the Miller decision has been questioned, based on the fact that short barreled shotguns were used by American troops during the trench warfare of World War I, and after the Miller decision in World War II and the Vietnam War.[citation needed] The decision is further criticized because the law further regulates all automatic weapons, resulting in most ordinary military weapons also being regulated.
The scope of the application of the Act to privately constructed firearms or devices is uncertain. Such items would normally be regulated under the Act's provisions, but are intended for private ownership only and not for sale. As the Act's application is derived from the federal legislature's Constitutionally enumerated power of regulation over interstate commerce, it is unclear how privately-constructed firearms or devices built solely for personal possession (i.e. not intended to be delivered into the stream of interstate commerce) are affected by the Act.