Full Automatic Military Surplus Arms.

[Adam Helmer]

A local individual has an extensive collection of legal Class 3 full automatic arms and wants to shoot them. Many folks do not know that full automatic arms were legal in the U.S. until the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934 inposed harsh penalties on possession unless the arms were properly registered with the U.S. Treasury Department and a $200 "Transfer Tax" was paid on each arm. In 1986, the Bradley Amendment was passed and stated no new full automatic arms could be registered with the Treasury Department. The result was the prices of the currently legally registered full auto arms skyrocketed in price.

It is interesting to note that NJ Senator Bradley, spitefully in my opinion, offered his amendment because the Volkmer-McClure Act had just been passed by Congress.

In my opinion, full automatic military surplus arms are interesting, historically significant and are not "Bad" any more than any other arm is "Bad." My grandfather was a WWI veteran and brought back a dozen machine guns from the war. He used to shoot them occasionally on Sunday afternoons in his back field until the NFA was enacted in 1934. The NFA was enacted because the "bootleggers" used tommy guns in their gang wars. We gun owners got "hood winked" by that legislation. Rather than putting the bad guys in jail, it was deemed necessary to make machine guns illegal for ALL Americans.

Today, about 300,000 Americans legally own full automatic arms and shoot them. I will try to get some pictures in the coming weeks.

Adam