"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."
"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,"
Gun Owners of America mobilized during the post-election budget fight to target the National Firearms Act. The NFA, enacted in 1934 after gangster-era crime, required registration and a $200 tax on machine guns, silencers, and short-barreled rifles and shotguns. That tax acted as a de facto ban for many buyers. The NFA has strong legal precedent, including a Supreme Court ruling rejecting a challenge to a sawn-off shotgun tax. A proposal to remove NFA restrictions for suppressors had stalled for years. Recent budget debates broadened political and organizational support for weakening NFA rules and prompted legal and political campaigns.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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