Would you buy NFA stuff if the tax was less?

[Tyris]

Are you guys allowed to use your NFA firearms for hunting or recreation? Or can they only be used at approved ranges?
Do you need to keep your NFA paperwork with you at all times? We have to have our paperwork for the registered firearm (any class) at all times, or else its a fine and a forfiet licence.

Hunting: varies from state to state, legal where I live.
Recreation: hell yes. I've busted up pumpkins with my machine gun + silencer.
Approved Range: eh? I shoot in the woods, or at a range, or out in the mountains, or the gravel pit, or private land.
Paperwork: I keep it in my range bag when I bring the item of interest out to shoot. No paperwork for handguns or long guns. Carry license for handguns tucked into my pants. Ive never shown the paperwork to anyone, I prefer not to.

-T

 

[American_Pit_Bull]

Originally posted by AtticusThraxx:
you could sell silencers at Ace Hardware ofr 9.99 ea, and I still probably wouldn't buy one without a coupon. Just don't have any need.

Do you value your hearing?

In many countries in Europe, firearm suppressors are not regulated and they are touted as safety devices for hearing protection.

I can double up on my hearing protection and my ears will still ring after a long day at the range... But when I shoot with my can, I never go home with my ears ringing.

 

[brentn]

Yea I'd love to have silencer, I hate wearing ear plugs sometimes. If there weren't such strict regulations on silencers there would be all kinds of companies making them, probably start at like 40$ and up, depending on the quality.

 

[OEF_VET]

If big government must stick it's nose into my business (and we all know it's going to), I would prefer that the '86 lock on the NFA registry be removed and the SOT tax be raised to $2000. $2000-3000 street price for a NEW M16/M4 + $2000 tax stamp would be a WAY better deal than what we currently have.

You are confusing a Transfer Tax stamp with an SOT (Special Occupancy Taxpayer) tax.

A Tax Stamp ($5 or $200) is affixed to either a BATFE Form 1 or 4 for the making or transfer of an NFA Title II weapon by or to an unlicensed person (Non-FFL / SOT).

An SOT tax is a special tax an FFL pays in order to import (Class 1), manufacture (Class 2), or deal in (Class 3) NFA Title II weapons. The amount of tax varies, based on type of FFL.

Now, if they raised the transfer tax to $2000, what would that do to suppressors? How many people do you think would buy them? Even with machineguns, a $2000 tax would put them out of the price range of most people. The argument would simply be modified: from "Why pay $10k for a full-auto rifle, as opposed to a $800 AR?", it would be "Why would I pay $2800 just to be able to fire full-auto?".

 

[OEF_VET]

The process to purchase a suppressor is not that difficult. It consists of five pieces of paper (reducable to three if you do a trust or corporate transfer), a couple of photos, and some signatures.

Even doing fingerprints, I can have a customer out the door, on their way to get some photos in under 30 minutes. After getting photos, they head to the Sheriff's office, and drop off their paperwork. The Sheriff signs it within a day or two, and the customer mails it all to BATFE.

Currently, the longest part of the process is its travelling through the US Postal Service system. I get transfers back in 4-6 weeks. It takes 2-3 days to get to Atlanta. From there, the check is deposited into the bank and the rest of the paperwork is forwarded to Martinsburg, WV, another 2-3 days. Then, the BATFE forwards the fingerprints to the FBI. The BATFE examiners do a quick background check, and once it comes back clear, and the check clears the bank, they affix the stamp, and mail it back to the FFL, another 2-3 days. Add in the weekends, and the paperwork doesn't really sit on an ATF examiner's desk very long. Especially compared to the 5 months and longer transfers that used to be the norm.

If only NFA 34 were amended, allowing FFL's to input the data into a computer and scan in fingerprints. Technology is definitely capable of doing the job. We can do instant checks for Title I guns, and cops can do fairly rapid checks on fingerprints. It would be easy to write a program which stops the transfer if the item is illegal where the person lives. That would also eliminate overbearing CLEO's, who don't feel you should have an item, regardless of the item's legality and your clean record.

But, that's just a dream world.

 

[MartinBrody]

Maybe the $200 tax is high on some cheapo 22 can, but it is a drop in the bucket when you are talking about a high end can for an AR, they can cost more than the rifle, and that $200 is nothing when you are talking about a machine gun.

I guess it depends on whether or not you can get a LEO signoff for the paperwork but I thought the paperwork was minimal. It is nothing special, name address and some yes/no check boxes to the usual questions. Name, address etc. on the fingerprint cards, then a couple lines on another form, I think it was attesting to citizenship. My timeline door to door was a little over a month, bought can one day (dealer had several in stock), next day my Sheriff signed, fingerprinted, photographed, next day mailed to BATFE, 1 month exactly paperwork was back.