Are museums exempt from NFA laws?

[Ranger Roberts]

I was out in Gettysburg a few weeks ago. I stopped at this military museum that wasn't on the battlefield. It is privately owned and encompasses all of our wars, not just the civil war. The amount of weapons was pretty amazing. Everything was behind glass but you can tell the machine guns weren't torched or cut.
I got talking to the old man that runs/owns the place. He told me that everything in the museum is authentic, no replicas. He said that he gets most of his WWI & WWII stuff from estate sales in Europe.
The guy talked A LOT and I couldn't get a word in. I couldn't even ask him any questions, he just kept talking. At this point my wife looked like she wanted to jump in front of a train, so for the sake of my marriage I excused myself.
So my question for you guys is: are museums exempt from the NFA laws?

 

[ny32182]

I'd be very surprised if, especially the MGs, were not demilled in some non-visible way.

 

[CoRoMo]

The owner or the museum entity might in fact have the applicable license needed to possess and import the items on display. Necessary tax stamps may have been purchased for specific firearms. The C&R license would allow an individual, business, non-profit, etc. to collect NFA items. I've never heard of any exemptions for museums. I do recall that a museum in Chicago some while back, that was unable to possess a number of firearms that were donated to it, due to local/state laws alone.

 

[vtsteve]

Certain museums that are affiliated with government agencies can register NFA items tax free on a Form 10, for "official use only". This doesn't apply to private museums however.

 

[AlexanderA]

I think I know the private museum you are talking about. If it's the one I'm thinking about, his MG's are registered transferables.