Until now these pistols were classed as legal pistols by the ATF and did not get classification under the National Firearms Act as ‘Destructive Devices’. They had to be originally built as pistols and not converted from rifles. If they were converted they were classed as short barreled rifles and became ‘NFA Destructive Devices’. This ruling will change all that.
This is from Lock and Load Radio. They have a link the ATF proposal. As the proposal comes from the office of the President, what it looks like is President Obama is directing BATFE to do this.
He has directed his anti-gun leaders at the DOJ and ATF to reclassify AR/AK Pistols as an NFA item. See new rule here.
What does this mean? Well, as we all know, or in case you don’t, an NFA item is highly regulated by the ATF. The NFA was originally enacted in 1934. Similar to the current NFA, the original Act imposed a tax on the making and transfer of firearms defined by the Act, as well as a special (occupational) tax on persons and entities engaged in the business of importing, manufacturing, and dealing in NFA firearms. The law also required the registration of all NFA firearms with the Secretary of the Treasury. Firearms subject to the 1934 Act included shotguns and rifles having barrels less than 18 inches in length, certain firearms described as “any other weapons,” machineguns, and firearm mufflers and silencers. As it is described on the ATF’s website,
While the NFA was enacted by Congress as an exercise of its authority to tax, the NFA had an underlying purpose unrelated to revenue collection. As the legislative history of the law discloses, its underlying purpose was to curtail, if not PROHIBIT, transactions in NFA firearms”.
What do they intend to do about the thousands, perhaps millions, of these pistols already in private hands? Will they be made illegal after the fact? Will citizens who bought pistols that were perfectly legal at the time of purchase now be classed as felons? Do they intend to round up all the pre-NFA pistols?
This shouldn’t stop anyone from owning these things. I feel like getting one of these now.
There is now a bill in Congress that will prevent the ATF form “reclassifying” anything with out specific changes to the law. Harass your congress critter about this.