Why no instant background check for NFA weapons?

The words I typed in another thread seem to be applicable here.

Gentlemen... behold the OP.
This is the success of anti-2A regulations playing out before our eyes.

Click to expand...

I might have to keep them words handy for future use. Bet I get a ton of miles out of them too.

And yes, it is government inefficiency, but it was designed that way intentionally.

Make it your signature, if you really like it.

Gentlemen... behold the OP.

This is the success of anti-2A regulations playing out before our eyes.

Click to expand...

Translation:
You shouldn't have to send them anything.

They query a lot of places that they don't for the cute little NICS check.

Three months isn't long at all. Try obtaining a Top Secret, Compartmentalized Information clearance sometime. Back in my day, they performed a full-field FBI investigation. Meaning, they literally sent open-face agents who looked like caricatures from "Police Squad" around to frighten my nursery school teachers and Boy Scout leaders.

Three months? Pffft.

Look at the original intent of the law.

Remember, the tax has been $200 since 1934. Consider the price of a machine gun, short barreled shotgun or rifle, or a suppressor at the time. Many affected weapons could be had for $5-$20. Indeed, cutting-edge submachineguns ran about as much as the tax itself. Consider also that $200 in 1934 dollars is roughly equivalent to $3200 in 2008 dollars and would likely have been an even greater hardship to most people in those times. Only inflation has decreased the meaning of $200 to the point of being more of a nuisance than a prohibitively restrictive tax.

Thus, I believe that the law's intent was and has always been less to vet the owners of restricted weapons and more to to discourage ownership of the weapons in question - to the point of prohibition.

Purely to cover their a*ses. They really don't do much beyond the normal NICS check (they depend on the CLEO to a large extent) but they have to make it look like they are super checking on buyers of those nasty NFA guns (and earning their money). If they didn't, they would get heat from Congress and the Brady gang.

Cordex is correct in that the original intent of the law was to impose a prohibitory tax, but the question was about the time it takes to get approval.

Jim

The NFA was a full federal takeover of the ownership of certain property. If you don't do everything their way, they say you can't even possess it. The NFA is naked aggression against the citizen. Instant checks really have nothing to do with a federal claim of ownership as the NFA does, instant checks are about all about the transfer of possession. NFA owners think they own their NFA items, but if they lose their paperwork or if ATF disagrees with their paperwork, then we find out who the real owner is. Thus, NFA items are not on the same planet as the insta check. The NFA = chains around our necks. The insta check = an overseer watching a transfer (with chains in hand to stop "undesirables")

Anybody know for sure exactly what they do, beyond the regular NICS?

NFA stuff is special: it turns money into rapid flashes and noise bursts, or even more scary turns flash and noise into muffled whumps. Goldy locks has never found a gun that is just right. So the law is there to dissuade ownership.

And even if you do 'own' one legally, you need an approved Mother-may-I form to locate it to another legal state to shoot it. Inheritances of your property also require approval.

It's a neat trick commies like to do: private+public = public.

NFA is a paperwork factory. The Feds (FBI) do the actual checking. I've dealt with the NFA for years. They actually think along the lines of "I have 90 days to make this transfer happen. I'll work on it next week." Non-taxed transfers between SOT dealers happens much faster.
Don't believe me? Call 304-616-4500 and talk to a supervisor. You'll be real surprised at what you learn. Don't call on a Monday or Friday - no one's there!

It's all about manpower and resources. You complain about 3 months, hell, maybe 5 years ago before they moved to larger offices, a transfer could take 9-12 months.
The trust thing has probably got them backed up too, since before going trust was a big thing, my F1/4's could come back in as little as 10 days.