Machine Guns, FOPA, & The NFA

I couldn't help it. My favorite, darkly humorous scene from one of my favorite movies - James Cameron's masterpiece - The Terminator.

For you luddites who have never seen this amazing movie, here is a YouTube link for this scene that is literally a minute long. Watch it and then please continue but promise me to then go find The Terminator to watch this weekend.

1984 California is a lot different than it is today. For those savvy in firearms law then and now, there is a lot one could unpack, but I want to focus on a tangent and this scene from The Terminator is a great kickoff point.

Right at the beginning you see that Arnie has already laid his hands on a rifle and places it on top of the display case - it's an Armalite AR-18. Later this machine gun is used to inflict some serious carnage on a sleepy police station. 'But wait!...' you exclaim, '...how is it the unsuspecting clerk says he can walk out today with the rifles but the terminator has to wait (heh) for 15 days for the handguns?'.

Well, it's the movies. The dealer making that statement in 1984 California thought he was going to be selling a semi-auto AR-18 to Arnie; who then ostensibly off-scene converted it (and the Uzi he snagged) to full-auto machine guns. Sentient cyborg killing machines from the future could probably do that.

The thing is in 1984 - if instead of a terminator, the customer was a law-abiding citizen, and the gun shop held an SOT (special occupancy tax) then that poor dealer could have legally sold machine guns to the public - they just could not have walked out with them that day. California being California likely had additional restrictions at the time from the locality and the state, but that is not the focus of this piece.

What is the focus however, is the fact that machine guns to this day are still legal to own in many parts of the country.

Machine guns are a category of NFA weapon - meaning guns controlled by the National Firearm Act (NFA) of 1934. Short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, suppressors (silencers), destructive devices (DDs) and AOWs (any other weapons) - are the other kinds of NFA weapons. In that nearly 90 year-old law, private citizens then and now had to pay for a $200 tax stamp (it is literally a stamp that says '$200' on it) that gets affixed to their ATF Form 4.

That form is the documentation of transfer from the gun dealer to the purchasing entity and goes into a federal data base. Unlike other guns, 'The Feds' actually do know you that you or your trust possess these kinds of weapons. The Form 4 transfer process also involves a lengthy background check that takes months (or a year+ these days) to complete, all while the dealer holds onto the weapon and after the buyer has handed over their money. It's a lengthy process which incurs additional expenses that purposefully creates a high barrier for all but the most serious of purchasers.

The interesting thing to note is that the tax has always been $200 - which was more than a tommy gun plus its infamous violin case and drum mag cost back in 1934. Inflation being what it is has taken some of the sting out of the tax.

'But what about machine guns?' you then ask, 'I have heard that they are different and are illegal?'.

Yes and No.

On May 19th, 1986, Congress passed the Firearm Owners Protection Act (FOPA). This bill - endorsed by the NRA - was made to stop some abuses by the ATF on gun dealers and the public over technical matters not sufficiently addressed in the Gun Control Act of 1968. It opened up shipping, transportation, and some interstate transfers for firearms, it also deregulated recordkeeping for the sales of most ammunition. Suffice to say, it was largely procedural and was really aimed at defanging the over-eager ATF agent.

To get the bill passed however, there had to be a compromise with Democrats, and that was where the 'Hughes Amendment' comes into play. Rep. William Hughes (D-NJ) proposed banning the sale of new manufacture machine guns to civilians as part of the sausage-making of the bill to garner enough Democrat votes for its passage. Once made into law, the ban written into FOPA would take effect. That language did ultimately get adopted and FOPA with the Hughes Amendment added in, was signed into law by President Reagan.

Note the emphasis above - NEW MANUFACTURE. Every machine gun that was manufactured before 1968 and properly registered per the GCA plus all the machine guns made/imported up to May 18th, 1986 are still transferrable to this day and are legal to own if your state/locality allows them.

Every machine gun made on or after 19 May, 1986 are non-transferrable. Only military, law-enforcement, and SOT-holding gun dealers who have sample letters for no more than two 'dealer samples' for demonstration purposes can own/possess these 'post-'86' machine guns. Manufacturers can also possess the machine guns that they make (which makes sense).

Now enter stage left: the Law of Supply and Demand. If you have increasing demand of an item (e.g. more interested gun owners via the raw increase in population plus the growth and identity of gun culture); but you have a fixed if not slowly dwindling supply (via loss, surrender to authorities, irreparable damage to the serialized receiver) of old machine guns that are still transferrable... well, the base principle of economics demands that prices go up.

And up, and up.

Today, a transferrable "pre-'86" M-16 'style' machine gun will cost the discerning buyer over $30,000 for a weapon that is at least 37 years old. It's all about scarcity and what the market will bear. That same firearm would have cost around $700 in 1985, the $200 tax stamp included. For an additional data point, M16s were going for ~$10,000 when I personally looked in 2003.

So yes, machine guns are still allowed to be owned under federal law if your state and locality also allow it, but as you can see it is a pricey proposition and a lengthy process for transfer. While the terminator didn't have the time nor the money, if you are so inclined and have plenty of both - you too can own a machine gun!

In these polarized times and regardless of your political stance, now you know the important beats of the federal law for machine gun ownership. I hope that some of the mystique is dispelled as well - which is helpful for all parties.

Until next time.

-PMH