You can buy the stamps themselves online (apparently stamp collectors collect ATF stamps too). Ebay has a few right now ranging from $20-$75 each.
That's something I never would have suspected. Learned something new.
You can buy the stamps themselves online (apparently stamp collectors collect ATF stamps too). Ebay has a few right now ranging from $20-$75 each.
The more difficult part would be matching the serial number written on the stamp (originally written to match the serial number of the registered weapon) to match the illegal weapon already in existence.
My tax stamps are endorsed (in ink) with the date the document was approved, and in some cases with the initials of the examiner. The serial number of the weapon doesn't appear on the stamp itself. Of course, these date from the 1970's - early 80's, and procedures may have changed since then.
You shouldn't have a class of arms restricted for A) the ultra-wealthy or B) the ones skirting the laws by making use of administrative "loopholes".
On a separate note, I'm starting to wonder how following the law became a loophole... Not specifically to your comment, Trent, but it seems to be a common occurrence today that if someone is following the law but still doing something you don't like, it becomes a "loophole" (gun show loophole, NFA trust loophole, tax loophole, etc.)
The sucky thing is that once MG's are owned solely by tycoons, they will defend the exclusivity of those guns adamantly, due to the high premium they now command solely due to gun restrictions.
Except that's not how ATF rolls.I'd love to see a judges face when some guy gets charged with possession of an illegal machinegun, and the defense is asking the BATF witness/officer if it is possible that the gun WAS legally registered and BATF lost the records, and the agent answers, "Well, er, yes." Would that possibly be a case of "reasonable doubt"?
The video and is at: http://www.nfaoa.org/documents/rollcall_highlights.mp4 if you'd care to watch for yourself.More disconcerting is the October 1995 “Roll Call” training video of then NFA Branch Chief, Thomas B. Busey, in which Mr. Busey orders BATFE staff to continue to commit perjury when testifying about the NFRTR: “Let me say that when we testify in court, we testify that the database [NFRTR] is 100 percent accurate. That’s what we testify to, and we will always testify to that. As you probably well know, that may not be 100 percent true.” Mr. Busey continued, “If our database were absolutely error free, we could simply run the name of individual and his first name, and if it didn’t come up, we could guarantee everyone that that individual doesn’t have a Title II [NFA] weapon registered to him.” Furthermore, Chief Busey stated that the error rate in the NFRTR was between 49 and 50%, before he became NFA Branch Chief, which means all cases prosecuted for illegal possession of a firearm, prior to 1994, had a one in two chance of the legally registered weapon’s record not existing or being discoverable in the NFRTR. Chief Busey then declared that the current, as of 1995, inaccuracy rate was below 8%, while at the same time the BATFE was attesting to the court that the NFRTR was 100% accurate.
the scary part is the risk to legit buyers of paying $10k+ and receiving a bogus gun and stamp
I suspect that if more counterfeiters knew about the NFA, we'd be seeing a lot more "pre-86" registered machine guns.
It reminds me of a story I read awhile back about so-called super-counterfeit $20 and $100 bills, that were printed with the same ink and same presses as the real bills. At a certain point, counterfeit objects become completely indistinguishable from the genuine article, and literally nothing except perhaps secret knowledge from individuals unknown could ever tell the difference or verify one way or the other.
Wasn't even just one guy, but rather a bit of a "ring" operating out of the southwest. A local dealer I know got in serious trouble for being tied up in it. I think he was able to plea out to some lesser charge, but very serious bad ju-ju all 'round.People have tried scams with full auto before, it isn't unheard of. One guy got busted earlier this year or last year (can't remember, thread was on THR about it), for cutting the serial # off of old MAC-10 receivers, and welding to new guns (MG-42, etc). Filed new paperwork, caliber conversions, etc.