So a corollary question would be to those of you with properly registered NFA goodies.
Have you ever had anyone in Law Enforcement ask to see your tax stamp?
If so; What were the circumstances?
I have.. We were at my place in the country,set up about 1/2 mile off the county road, and, 3/4 mile of a US hwy... Had an MG-42, M-16, MP-40, and an AR-180.. having a grand old time.. tearing up a creek bed.
After a bit, we heard a horn honking.. looked around and about 200 yards off there was a Blazer with a Game Warden emblem on the door. One lone warden standing on the opposite side of the truck waving his hat... (he was being a bit cautious, and I don;t fault im one little bit there) we stood up, (prone on the MG42) and waved him over... All of us being LEO our selves, stepped well away from the guns, that were laid out on several mats on the ground.. From there is got comical.
He asked us. " Ah, you boys ain't huntin nuthin with them are you? " No-Sir, just killin some cans." there were cans and plastic bottles shredded all over the creek bank. "Do you boys have permission to be on this property?" .."Yes Sir, I'm the owner." "I thought this place belonged to a widder (that's E-Texan for widow) woman in town." Ah Yes sir, that would have been my Grandmother, she passed in April. It was passed down to me."
"Are those real machine guns?" "Yes Sir, as real as it gets." "Are they Legal?" "They certainly are, the Tax Stamps are in our wallets, I will gladly show them to you."
At this time we all pulled out our wallets (three of us) and produced our Police ID's as well as laminated miniature copies of the the Tax Stamps, as well as a Copy of my class 3 FFL.. "Oh Hell, why didn't yall say you were cops?" "You didn't ask, besides were not gonna arrest anybody." He chuckled, stated that he had never seen that kind of paperwork before... Then he asked if he could shoot one.. We let him shoot them all... He had a blast.... I thought that it was funny, the first two questions he asked were not related to anything but his area of LE,, Game laws... We, the Game Warden and I, remained friends for about 6 or 7 years until he retired... He would drop by if the gate was open.
In regard to loose lips... I had been a cop for 30 years, two different agencies in a large metro area.. I have closed the cell door on literally 1000's of people, some bad, same real bad, many just good people with a moment (or two) of bad judgment.. I would venture to say, that about 98.5% of them arrested themselves. They just didn't have ANY idea when to shut up... Ron White said it best... You Just can't fix Stupid.
As far as Illegal NFA weapon that I have come across in 30 years, only one FA, more than a few short barrel shotguns or what I think was even more common, is sawed off rifles, mostly 22's.. in rough minority neighborhoods.. many of them came back as stolen in residential burglaries... one I particularly remember was a beautiful Browning Citori shotgun, looked like a presentation grade, over and under, that some Dumb thief took a hack saw too... I almost cried.... When I was at the range, many years ago, all the weapons that went through the property room, the range personnel would cull through them and strip parts that could be used to repair officers guns. This was done just before a burn, we got to see everything. back then even what today would be termed an assault rifle was rare.. Today Black guns, AK's and SKS's are a bit more prevalent, but not near what the media would have you believe.. I have never seen data on this published by ATF.. probably because the stats won't support their position..
