Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 453
paperwork and a tax stamp. In this Chapter, we will discuss the
purpose behind the NFA, what firearms are regulated by the Act, as
well as the process and procedure for legally possessing weapons
that are subject to the Act’s provisions.
I. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
The National Firearms Act was enacted in 1934 in response to
gangster crimes. Prior to the Act’s passage, any person could go
to the local hardware store and purchase a Thompson Submachine
Gun or shorten the barrel on their rifle or shotgun. President
Roosevelt pushed for the passage of the NFA in an attempt to
diminish a gangster’s ability to possess and carry dangerous and/
or easily concealable firearms, such as machine guns and shortbarreled rifles and shotguns.
A. The NFA is firearms regulation using a registration and tax
requirement
The NFA requires both the registration and tax on the manufacture
and transfer of certain firearms. The law created a tax of $200 on the
transfer of the following firearms: short-barreled shotguns, shortbarreled rifles, machine guns, silencers, and destructive devices.
The tax is only $5 for transferring firearms that are classified as
“Any Other Weapons” or AOWs. Back in 1934, a $200 tax was the
approximate equivalent of about $4,000 today!
Five years after the NFA’s passage, the Supreme Court held in
United States v. Miller that the right to bear arms can be subject to
federal regulation. Miller defended himself against the government
arguing that the NFA infringed upon his Constitutional right to bear
arms under the Second Amendment. While the Court agreed that
the Constitution does guarantee a right to bear arms, it held that the
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