Wanna stimulate the economy? Ask for a new machine gun amnesty.

[General Geoff]

An interesting idea came up from this thread.

Supposedly the Secretary of the Treasury has the power to grant NFA amnesty periods of up to 90 days. Since the BATFE has recently been transferred to the justice department, I'm not sure if the Secretary of Treasury is still able to do this (or if someone else has been given such a power). But if so, imagine the kind of economic stimulus such an amnesty would provide. All domestic manufacturers of semi auto firearms (AR-15s, M14 clones, etc.) would clamor to crank out as many auto sears and selector switches as possible, in the short period of time the amnesty went on.


Maybe such an obvious increase in production (due to obvious demand) would convince congress to at least re-open the registry. Who knows? But if there is still a person in government who has the legal power to grant amnesties, I think we should be writing to him/her.

 

[Nolo]

AaaaaaMEN!

 

[DAVIDSDIVAD]

I can imagine the media attention now: "Mrs. Brady says that the streets in some cities are already running red with blood."

 

[theken206]

I would be moving to idaho or OR lol ill tell ya that much

 

[wideym]

A few companies would produce FA, but the majority would be average joes registering semi ARs recievers, muffler tubes for Stens, AK flats, and 1919 side plates, anything that can be converted or built easily at home.

 

[PTK]

It depends on what KIND of amnesty. Amnesty to open registration, such as illegal MGs and new MGs not yet made, great! Amnesty ONLY to currently illegal MGs, still ok, but not quite as good.

 

[Hardware]

Wouldn't matter a single bit to me. I live in a no NFA state.

 

[PTK]

Hardware

It would, however, matter to you in the long run. The more citizens with machineguns, real, capable modern infantry weapons, the better. It would produce a more secure country overall, thus benefiting you as well.

 

[Sport45]

It would be nice, but I doubt there would be enough purchasers to really "stimulate the economy". There just aren't that many of us. I doubt if everyone that read this thread spent 100% of their salary on guns and gun parts that it would affect the national economy.

 

[matt87]

Change the NFA tax stamp to $20 instead of $200, and then I bet there would be a certain economic stimulus. (How many Joe Gunowners wouldn't pass up a $50+20 full auto parts kit or a $20+20 supressor for their AR, 10/22, Mini14 etc.?)

 

[General Geoff]

That would help with short barrelled shotguns and rifles, and destructive devices and suppressors, but machine guns would still be verboten per the '86 FOPA amendment.

 

[LiquidTension]

That economic stimulus check would pay for 3 tax stamps...

 

[Gunnerpalace]

They should jack up the tax and allow MG's.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Yeah I believe the Hughes Amendment would supercede any 1968 authority to have an amnesty.

 

[Acera]

Does the average Joe have legal machine guns in great numbers? The folks that have the big machine gun collections are investors, and they have money. With that money comes power, now you want to make a change that will cost them a large chuck of their investments worth? Good luck with that, it ain't about the guns, it is about money and that game plays by different rules.

 

[freakshow10mm]

I know a lot of NFA owners that would love for their machine guns to be worthless. It's about rights, not money.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

There just aren't that many of us.

There are enough to drive the price of a $5 hunk of metal to $13,000. NFA ownership isn't as much of a secret any more and I think folks would buy every auto-sear or MG the manufacturers could crank out in a 90 day period.
I've read a lot of threads about value plummeting if the NFA registry reopened, with MG owners chiming in (some with well over $100k collections) and never heard any of them say they'd be worried about the financial hit if theirs lost value. Just that they'd be excited to buy all the "other ones" they want. A single kB or stroke of a pen could make their collections worthless anyway. It's not the safest investment.

 

[PTK]

DoubleTapDrew is right - the 922(o) made HK sears the single most valuable metal in the USA.

 

[brighamr]

I had suggested the stimulus idea in a similar thread in legal. Basically, you open up the registry for lightning links/DIAS... about 100,000 people who own AR's buy them for $20 per, add the $200 tax stamp per = $22,000,000.

That doesn't include the HK, AK, Glock 17 and other conversion crowds.

I'm not rich, but if I could buy a DIAS for $220, I'd seriously buy around 20 (all of my brothers would be happy this xmas

 

[publiuss]

I don't really see opening it for a limited amount of time then making it illegal again. Doesn't make sense. If it should be legal, it should be legal, that's it. I am for opening it again. I don't think it is right but we should give them something so they don't think they have completly lost their power. They open the registry and we pay oh, say a $100.00 tax to make them happy. We can deal with the tax later, the immediate concern is getting the registry open for good.

 

[Vegaslaith]

"Since the BATFE has recently been transferred to the justice department, I'm not sure if the Secretary of Treasury is still able to do this (or if someone else has been given such a power)."

Well then who would have the power? Sec. of State?

 

[jrfoxx]

"Since the BATFE has recently been transferred to the justice department, I'm not sure if the Secretary of Treasury is still able to do this (or if someone else has been given such a power)."

Well then who would have the power? Sec. of State?

I think the U.S. Attorney General is head of Justice, no?
(sorry, my grade school govt classes were quite a while ago)

 

[freakshow10mm]

Yes, the Attorney General is the head of the Justice Department. However, the law still states that the Secretary of the Treasury must make the call.

The restructuring of the ATF is weird. The inspection and enforcement part of the bureau is under the Department of Justice, but all the tax stuff is still under the Department of Treasury being handled by a branch of the ATF known as the TTB or Tax and Trade Bureau. The TTB is part of the ATF, but the TTB is part of the Dept of Treas and the ATF is DOJ. The NFA branch of the ATF, is under the DOJ, but also handles taxes on NFA weapons internally and the TTB does not have authority in NFA matters, only the NFA branch. The TTB handles excise taxes. The ATF is essentially three branches: the normal ATF ops, NFA, and the TTB. One department split in three branches but stretched across two larger departments. Whew. What a mess.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

And isn't the whole DOJ now under Homeland Security?

we should give them something so they don't think they have completly lost their power.

Something like "Amendment to Patriot Act - To further ensure the ability for America to defend itself within it's borders, the 1986 Hughes Amendment to the FOPA is eliminated. Able bodied citizens ages 17-45 may be called upon for militia duty within their state in the event of a stateside invasion or occupation if military forces are unable to contain such".
Let people who don't know what the Hughes amendment or FOPA is squabble about changing the minimum age to 18 then pass it.

 

[ctdonath]

The lead post grossly misunderstands the "amnesty" provision.

would clamor to crank out as many auto sears and selector switches as possible, in the short period of time the amnesty went on.

NOT HAPPENING. PERIOD.
922(o) forbids, without allowance for "amnesty", possession of post-'86 MGs.
The "amnesty" provision ONLY applies to pre-'86 MGs, allowing people to, say, register the Thompson SMG the grown grandkids found hidden in grandpa's attic after he passed (and that only if a brief "amnesty" is coincidentally in effect, usually 30-90 days, and the item hasn't been cut/slagged).

Basically, such an amnesty would only happen if someone well-connected had very good reason to pull some very hard-to-access strings. Hasn't happened for a while, won't likely happen again.

Get 922(o) overturned outright - then, yes, there will be an "economic stimulus" as 20+ years of pent-up demand would burst forth. ...but that is a very different legal issue.