VARifleman
Member
This is something I posed on another forum. Any comments would be appreciated. Any additions would be greatly appreciated.
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A few notes before we begin. Laws mentioned are either directly linked, or cited in text. I am not going to provide links to those cited in text, only links if I happen to have out a citation. All price numbers are calculated through the inflation calculator HERE, although the numbers are low, if you consider that we make more money for the value of the dollar now than we did in the years I am talking about. You can see how it compares to per capita income up to 2006 HERE.
There have been a lot of changes in gun laws from 1900 to 2000, from NC's pistol purchase permit Jim Crow law in 1919, to the NFA of 34, the 68 GCA, 86 FOPA, 93 Brady, 94 AWB, and 98 NICS program.
NC Pistol Purchase Permit
It is one of the last remaining Jim Crow laws around, created in 1919 to ensnare minorities in 14-404 a(2),
LINK
At that time in the country "good moral character" was not considered a trait of minorities, and they were denied on this basis.
The second way they did it, is that the permit is 5 dollars. In 1919, 5 dollars is equal to 63.96 dollars. I'm not in a bad financial situation, but 64 bucks is pretty significant to me. Also, 64 bucks is more than a quarter of the price of one of my carry pistols. They instituted this law so that the blacks and the irish, etc. would be easy pickins for their klan friends.
1934 NFA
The NFA put a tax stamp and registration on several classes of weapons (Title II weapons). Those are: machine guns, short rifles (<16" barrel, or <26" OAL), short shotguns (<18" barrels, or <26" OAL), sound suppressors, and Any Other Weapons (AOWs). AOWs encompass a number of things, some of which are pistols with a second vertical grip, and guns that look like something other than a gun (pen guns that fire when they look like a pen, or a wallet holster with holes in it so you can fire the gun while it's in the holster, and smooth bore pistols). AOWs are the least taxed of all the classes, at 5 dollars. In the case of all NFA items, the price has never changed for any of the categories. 5 dollars in 1934 is 78.76 dollars today, not cheap.
Now lets get to the big 4 of the NFA. They all hold the same tax stamp, 200 dollars. 200 dollars then, is 3150 today. That's a hell of a lot of money unless you are really really rich. This goes back to the whole point of the thread, that regulation to increase cost is they real meat and potatoes of these laws, that way the politicians and their rich friends are protected and can force the lower classes to do their bidding.
1968 GCA
This bill did a lot of things. It set up the current FFL system. It started the prohibited persons list. It added another category of Title II weapons, Destructive Devices (DDs). It added import restrictions.
So what does all that mean? Well, it means that the price of being in the gun business went up with increased licensing cost. Add onto that the fact that you cannot buy a gun from a nondealer outside of your state anymore, and you can't buy a handgun from anyone outside of your state, and you have less competition on who you can legally buy from. Less competition on the open market will increase prices.
Import restrictions kept an arbitrary class of guns, defined only by the "sporting purposes" clause (Title 18 section 925 D3) which says that only guns that the AG determines are for sporting purposes with few exceptions may be imported. This gives total control to the AG, and can be reversed with the flick of his or her pen, and since 922® exists, instantly makes previously legal rifle configurations made out of foreign parts illegal put together, then try to convince a jury that you put together that rifle when it was legal to make (hahaha...not happening). Arbitrary decisions by an appointed official that can have such a significant impact on people's lively hood. The penalties for violating this or the NFA is 10 years, 250k dollars. This law also means that any items in the tax code under the NFA are not importable any longer, except for approved testing. (Post 68 dealer samples)
Now on to DDs, which were talked about briefly in the thread about what I found in the machine shop, since it was the muzzle brake off of a 20mm rifle. The definition includes a few things that I want to mention, as talking about all of them would make any discussion too broad, so I'll talk about the ones that affect me and my hobbies. Firearms with a caliber over one half inch, other than shotguns that the Secretary finds of sporting use Link to code. The other is rockets with propellant over 4 ounces. As I mentioned in the other thread, since these got added to the NFA, they cannot be imported any longer due to 18-925(d)(3), and this raised the price significantly on surplus and relic firearms from world war 2, the Korean war, and some that were coming out in the Vietnam war at the time. Since they couldn't be imported and they now had the 200 dollar tax on them, the prices of these guns rose dramatically. 200 dollars in 1968 is 1216 dollars in todays money. As I stated in the other thread, the rifle that the muzzle brake came off of, commands a 10k dollar price tag today. As for the rocket part, I like model, mid, and high power rocketry, although I haven't been able to get into high power rocketry as the requirements to get into it as well as the cost are prohibitive for me now, mainly due to that limit, and the ATF's control over low explosive rocket motors (Hazmat 1.4©).
The 1986 Firearm Owner's Protection Act
Overall, this bill was good for gun owners, but the part I'm going to talk about added to the GCA in the form of 922(o). This stated that the machine gun registry was CLOSED as of May 19, 1986. This made the 1000 dollar M16s go to 15000 dollars. Once again, putting the price out of reach for the lower classes.
The 94 Assault Weapons Ban
This regulated rifles shotguns and pistols with a certain count of features as well as the magazine capacity of each. Detachable mags were limited to 10 rounds, shotguns had mag capacity as one of its limited features. What it didn't do is ban the possession or transfer of the defined items as long as they were made before the enactment of the law. This meant that banned items now jumped up in price, with preban mags commanding prices around 100 dollars. Once again, putting ownership farther out of reach for the lower classes.
--------
A few notes before we begin. Laws mentioned are either directly linked, or cited in text. I am not going to provide links to those cited in text, only links if I happen to have out a citation. All price numbers are calculated through the inflation calculator HERE, although the numbers are low, if you consider that we make more money for the value of the dollar now than we did in the years I am talking about. You can see how it compares to per capita income up to 2006 HERE.
There have been a lot of changes in gun laws from 1900 to 2000, from NC's pistol purchase permit Jim Crow law in 1919, to the NFA of 34, the 68 GCA, 86 FOPA, 93 Brady, 94 AWB, and 98 NICS program.
NC Pistol Purchase Permit
It is one of the last remaining Jim Crow laws around, created in 1919 to ensnare minorities in 14-404 a(2),
LINK
At that time in the country "good moral character" was not considered a trait of minorities, and they were denied on this basis.
The second way they did it, is that the permit is 5 dollars. In 1919, 5 dollars is equal to 63.96 dollars. I'm not in a bad financial situation, but 64 bucks is pretty significant to me. Also, 64 bucks is more than a quarter of the price of one of my carry pistols. They instituted this law so that the blacks and the irish, etc. would be easy pickins for their klan friends.
1934 NFA
The NFA put a tax stamp and registration on several classes of weapons (Title II weapons). Those are: machine guns, short rifles (<16" barrel, or <26" OAL), short shotguns (<18" barrels, or <26" OAL), sound suppressors, and Any Other Weapons (AOWs). AOWs encompass a number of things, some of which are pistols with a second vertical grip, and guns that look like something other than a gun (pen guns that fire when they look like a pen, or a wallet holster with holes in it so you can fire the gun while it's in the holster, and smooth bore pistols). AOWs are the least taxed of all the classes, at 5 dollars. In the case of all NFA items, the price has never changed for any of the categories. 5 dollars in 1934 is 78.76 dollars today, not cheap.
Now lets get to the big 4 of the NFA. They all hold the same tax stamp, 200 dollars. 200 dollars then, is 3150 today. That's a hell of a lot of money unless you are really really rich. This goes back to the whole point of the thread, that regulation to increase cost is they real meat and potatoes of these laws, that way the politicians and their rich friends are protected and can force the lower classes to do their bidding.
1968 GCA
This bill did a lot of things. It set up the current FFL system. It started the prohibited persons list. It added another category of Title II weapons, Destructive Devices (DDs). It added import restrictions.
So what does all that mean? Well, it means that the price of being in the gun business went up with increased licensing cost. Add onto that the fact that you cannot buy a gun from a nondealer outside of your state anymore, and you can't buy a handgun from anyone outside of your state, and you have less competition on who you can legally buy from. Less competition on the open market will increase prices.
Import restrictions kept an arbitrary class of guns, defined only by the "sporting purposes" clause (Title 18 section 925 D3) which says that only guns that the AG determines are for sporting purposes with few exceptions may be imported. This gives total control to the AG, and can be reversed with the flick of his or her pen, and since 922® exists, instantly makes previously legal rifle configurations made out of foreign parts illegal put together, then try to convince a jury that you put together that rifle when it was legal to make (hahaha...not happening). Arbitrary decisions by an appointed official that can have such a significant impact on people's lively hood. The penalties for violating this or the NFA is 10 years, 250k dollars. This law also means that any items in the tax code under the NFA are not importable any longer, except for approved testing. (Post 68 dealer samples)
Now on to DDs, which were talked about briefly in the thread about what I found in the machine shop, since it was the muzzle brake off of a 20mm rifle. The definition includes a few things that I want to mention, as talking about all of them would make any discussion too broad, so I'll talk about the ones that affect me and my hobbies. Firearms with a caliber over one half inch, other than shotguns that the Secretary finds of sporting use Link to code. The other is rockets with propellant over 4 ounces. As I mentioned in the other thread, since these got added to the NFA, they cannot be imported any longer due to 18-925(d)(3), and this raised the price significantly on surplus and relic firearms from world war 2, the Korean war, and some that were coming out in the Vietnam war at the time. Since they couldn't be imported and they now had the 200 dollar tax on them, the prices of these guns rose dramatically. 200 dollars in 1968 is 1216 dollars in todays money. As I stated in the other thread, the rifle that the muzzle brake came off of, commands a 10k dollar price tag today. As for the rocket part, I like model, mid, and high power rocketry, although I haven't been able to get into high power rocketry as the requirements to get into it as well as the cost are prohibitive for me now, mainly due to that limit, and the ATF's control over low explosive rocket motors (Hazmat 1.4©).
The 1986 Firearm Owner's Protection Act
Overall, this bill was good for gun owners, but the part I'm going to talk about added to the GCA in the form of 922(o). This stated that the machine gun registry was CLOSED as of May 19, 1986. This made the 1000 dollar M16s go to 15000 dollars. Once again, putting the price out of reach for the lower classes.
The 94 Assault Weapons Ban
This regulated rifles shotguns and pistols with a certain count of features as well as the magazine capacity of each. Detachable mags were limited to 10 rounds, shotguns had mag capacity as one of its limited features. What it didn't do is ban the possession or transfer of the defined items as long as they were made before the enactment of the law. This meant that banned items now jumped up in price, with preban mags commanding prices around 100 dollars. Once again, putting ownership farther out of reach for the lower classes.
) As our forefathers knew, some politicians will do anything in their power to keep their power, even when they draft a set of rules for the limitation of governmental power.
