"Safety" of NFA items

[TheBruce]

So I don't currently have any NFA items but would like to get stamps for a couple SBRs and a few cans in the near future. The main thing which has held me back is I'm not a fan of any sort of "registration" of firearms and that's basically what I'd be doing, voluntarily. I'm concerned that if some day the Fed ever does decide to go after those types of things, they would have a shopping list of who has what.

I realize nobody can predict the future, but I'm just curious what others think about the possibilities for the future of NFA stuff, especially if they are successful at passing another AWB. Maybe some folks know more about what's really going on with our friends in the ATF. I would certainly use a trust for this so my kids will all have access.

 

[dogtown tom]

No one knows what may happen in a month, year or second term. It would be just a WAG.
Thirdly, the likelihood of any gun legislation getting through this Congress is slim. All the old Democrats remember what cost them Congress in the past. Their fear is losing the House in the midterms in 2022. There will be lots of postulating, proclamations, committee meetings and hearings and it won't even get a floor vote.
Fourth, I feared a second term by Trump more than I did Biden. Trump had more antigun activity in four years than Obama and Biden had in eight. Trump banned bump stocks by ordering ATF to rewrite the definition of machine gun. He threatened silencers as well "I'd like to think about it. I mean nobody's talking about silencers very much. I did talk about the bump stock and we had it banned and we're looking at that. I'm going to seriously look at it. I don't love the idea of it,"

 

[Kleanbore]

Thirdly, the likelihood of any gun legislation getting through this Congress is slim.

That, I think, is wishful thinking in the extreme.

 

[mjsdwash]

I'm much more worried about states. I don't think the feds will give up the NFA. Like that thread a week ago about revenue stream, even if the registry is a huge money loser, its a money maker for someone. Also, with the NFA, that requirement to pay back value on seizure will be much more heavily focused on than the bumpstocks.

While the US can just print the money without thought, I think there would still be resistance to buying back all NFA items as "too expensive"... even though its really only a few thousand dollars of printing costs to them... but again, its money for someone. If they do though, they will be paying contract rate, not market rate for machine guns though.

I don't think your paranoid though. The only reason I have not SBR'd/Suppressed anything is because my state may decide to go back and ban them again. My power crazy governor may ban them by his virtually unlimited executive authority. The big Coronovirus remote working thing, and the continuing exodus of CA is bringing the anti-gun, anti-car, anti-pitbull, anti-vax, loud, guncontrol funding crazies into every states now.

 

[CapnMac]

There is nothing that is 100% 'safe.'
There are no laws that guarantee 100% legality, either.
Not becoming a stamp collector just because there are lists (or the MG Registry) only changes what you can enjoy.
NFA is a silly, antiquated, dog-legged bit of history that ought to be sunset-ed, or rescinded (sadly Miller is the present kibosh on that).
But, it is what it is.

If the "They" start going down the Registry confiscating things, the situation will be well beyond the simple work-around we might imagine. (And, as a point of order, the NFA lists are not all that accurate, something the curators will admit, if reluctantly.)

 

[jmorris]

I can sell all of my non NFA firearms without letting the NFA branch know.

I am sure they could come across firearms I no longer own but at some point filled out a 4473 on.

This is why they want even private sales to have documents filled out so there is a “paper trail” to follow.

 

[AlexanderA]

I think registered NFA items are low on the endangered list. If anything, the NFA might be used as a vehicle to expand what is regulated. (And if there is wholesale expansion, then the entire scheme is up in the air and there may be changes that are beneficial to us. For one thing, the Hughes Amendment would have to go by the board. Also, if there are millions of new registrations, the cumbersome approval process would be untenable and would have to be turned into a mere formality.)

 

[Armorer 101]

There is a world of difference between the possibility of non criminal seizure of property and becoming a convicted felon for making or possessing an illegal weapon.

If you are worried about seizure, make your own can under a Form 1 and have $300 in the can, total. If you can not afford to loose $300 you are in the wrong game to start with.

 

[FL-NC]

I think a NFA item that is tax stamped is about as registered as anything can get. They have extensive paperwork on the item and the owner, who has passed a very intrusive background check, and even paid a tax for the priveledge of owning said item. It would seem to me that confiscation of such legally possessed/registered items would be very "low hanging fruit". As for me, should a compulsory surrender of such items be required under threat of prison, I guess I would be out of luck, and demanding a tax refund and compensation. I would also be tempted to render said items unusable prior to surrender, just so the thieves wouldn't have the opportunity to play with my stuff.