Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 22
provision of the law, which allows for traveling across states with a
firearm. Finally, FOPA prohibited a registry for non-NFA items that
directly linked firearms to their owners.
D. The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use
Protection Act
The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act,
commonly referred to as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, was a
subsection of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
of 1994. It banned outright the manufacture and transfer of certain
semi-automatic firearms and magazines. This ban grandfatheredin previously legally owned weapons, but no prohibited firearm
could be acquired or manufactured after September 13, 1994. With
great foresight, the drafters of this law included a so-called “sunset
provision,” which stated that the ban would expire 10 years later
unless renewed. The ban expired in 2004, and all attempts to renew
it have been unsuccessful.
E. The National Firearms Act
The National Firearms Act (“NFA”) regulates and imposes
a statutory excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of
certain types of firearms and weapons: machine guns, shortbarreled weapons, suppressors, explosive devices, and “any
other weapons” (“AOWs”). AOWs can range from everyday
objects that are actually firearms, such as an umbrella that can
fire a round, to other weapons the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) decides to place in this
category. The tax is $200 if you make or transfer an item other
than the transfer of AOWs; the tax for transferring AOWs is $5.
The NFA is also referred to as Title II of the federal firearms
laws. See Chapter 18 for more information on how to navigate
the NFA while remaining legal.
Brief Legal History Of The Right To Bear Arms And The Laws Regulating Firearms | 11
