The National Firearms Act is an incredibly problematic bit of legislation. Passed over 90 years ago, the NFA creates restrictions on numerous firearms and creates a registry of people who own those firearms and even accessories like suppressors. It’s something that was allowed at a time when the courts tended to figure the government had a lot more power than the Founding Fathers ever intended.
And Gun Owners of America has its sights set firmly upon this law. That’s what they’ve been focused on like a laser since before President Donald Trump returned to office.
Over at The Guardian, I think they’re a little freaked out by that.
Before Donald Trump had even won last year’s presidential election, Gun Owners of America, one of the country’s most aggressive second amendment champions, saw an opportunity to use the coming budget bill to overturn one of the country’s core gun laws. Their target: the National Firearms Act.
Passed in 1934 in response to gangster-era crime, the NFA imposed registration and a $200 tax on machine guns, silencers, and short-barreled rifles and shotguns. The tax roughly equaled nearly $5,000 back then, acting as a de facto ban for most would-be buyers.
Few American gun laws stand on firmer ground than the NFA. The law surmounted its most serious legal challenge eight decades ago, when the supreme court ruled against a pair of suspected bank robbers who argued that taxing a sawn-off shotgun violated their right to bear arms.
Lawmakers have not seriously considered repealing it any time in recent memory. A bill that would eliminate NFA restrictions only for suppressors, increasingly popular devices that muffle gunshots and make firearms easier to control, has languished in Congress for a decade. Until very recently, trying to overturn the NFA would have seemed like a Hail Mary at best.
But as the frenzied debate over Trump’s budget bill played out this summer, the push to gut the NFA transformed from a fringe view into a broadly supported position, embraced across the spectrum of gun groups and increasingly backed by establishment Republicans. Now, they are taking that fight to the courts, while scanning the horizon for their next major battle.
“The change is fantastic,” said Luis Valdes, a Gun Owners of America spokesperson. “It shows you that it’s a grassroots effort. Americans all over the country are tired of their rights being violated.”
The truth is that we came awfully close to getting suppressors and short-barreled long guns removed from the NFA entirely. I’m not thrilled that we were unsuccessful, but this was the closest anyone came to gutting the NFA.
I’m glad to see it.
I’d also like to see the 1986 machine gun ban repealed as well, using its inclusion on the NFA to nerf arguments that we’re putting machine guns in criminal hands, but that’s a topic for another day…especially as the next step would be completely repealing the NFA entirely.
Still, GOA is making some waves, and a lot of people are freaking out about it.
Yet the argument here is that this is both part of our Second Amendment rights and the NFA isn’t stopping criminals from doing all sorts of nefarious things. For years, the NFA was held up as some kind of proof that gun control worked, but even that is shattering as full-auto switches flood American streets.
The Guardian also notes that GOA tends to see the National Rifle Association as “soft,” which is true. While anti-gunners have long fixated on the NRA, it’s groups like GOA that were completely and totally unwilling to compromise in any way, shape, or form. They didn’t like that the NRA might be willing to wheel and deal when it looked like they might lose on a vote. So, they refuse to budge.
They might take less than they wanted, but they aren’t going to willingly give up any ground, and that freaks a lot of people out, including the folks at The Guardian, apparently.
That’s just a selling point for GOA memberships, really.
It’s obvious they’re concerned over the attack on the NFA, but the truth is that the NFA weathered a lot of legal storms before the Bruen decision. I’m not so sure that it’ll weather them long-term now, and that’s a glorious thing and a glorious moment to be alive.
Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.
Help us continue to report on their efforts and legislative successes. Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.
Read the full article here
