H.R. 3155 Racketeer Weapons and Violent Crime Control Act...

General General Discussion
1

So if you ever wondered how exactly the 86 MG Ban aka FOPA 86 happened and why the NRA and a NRA Life Member President (Ronald Reagan) would sign such a thing, you might find this interesting reading.

This is from the Jan. 1986 issue of Soldier of Fortune and this is the legislation Peter Rodino (D-NJ) and William Hughes (D-NJ) were hoping to get passed.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d099:9:./temp/~bdaPBa::

Under the intended law pre 86 machine guns would be “grandfathered” but non transferable. That means when the owners died, the estate would be required to sell the weapons to the Secretary of the Treasury.

That means damn few people would own ANY machine guns today and nobody would be able to buy one at all. And it contained only a few of the beneficial provisions of FOPA (Firearm Owners Protection Act) 86 in order to make it attractive to some gun owners.

It permitted dealers to sell at gun shows and raised the price of FFL costs to $200 hoping to entice gun dealers to support it by giving them the opportunity to do gun shows and drive “kitchen table” FFLs out of the market. At the time I think a FFL was about $60 for three years.

It eliminated the record keeping requirement for ammo sales (unless it was for 1,000 rounds or more), with FOPA there was no requirement for any record keeping for ammo sales which had existed since 1968.

And this law would not only close the registration for machine guns, but suppressors as well. That means almost NOBODY here would own any kind of suppressor at all.

This is what the NRA and the President were up against with a Democrat majority Congress. This bill would have done little to eliminate abuses and excesses of the 1968 Gun Control Act and would have closed the books on machine guns and suppressors.

It would not contain provisions that protected people from traveling with firearms through states where they are illegal.

It would not contain provisions that protected non dealers who made favorable sales or trades of personal weapons.

It would not contain provisions that allowed the importation of surplus military rifles.

What we got instead was FOPA and Reagan did not have a line item veto. It could have been much worse.

2

Thanks for the history lesson there Steyr. Now to see what comes of the Trust “loophole” (:rolleyes:) issue that Barry has raised.

3

Interesting article, thanks.

4

Bumped because a lot of people just don’t know this stuff.

5

Many who were not around during this time will wail that RR and the NRA “sold us out”. At the time, we gained far more than we lost…

6

Having become a firearm owner only in 2006, its interesting to see how the history of ownership has developed over the years.

Thanks for the article!

7

Thanks for posting this.

8

Very good information, but sad to see how much we have to celebrate having only one or two fingers chopped off instead of all five.

9

Bumped because even here many people still don’t know.

10

Bumped again because people still don’t know.

New link to the actual act.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/99th-congress/house-bill/3155

Introduced in House (08/01/1985)

Racketeer Weapons and Violent Crime Control Act of 1985 - Amends the Gun Control Act to define “handgun” as a firearm which has a short stock and is designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand.

Imposes a waiting period of up to 15 days for a record check before a handgun purchaser is able to obtain possession of a handgun. Requires the licensed importer, manufacturer, or dealer to mail the appropriate form to the chief law enforcement officer of the place of residence of the purchaser notifying the chief of the proposed sale. Requires such chief to perform a record check. Directs the licensee to notify the Federal Bureau of Investigation to allow it to examine Federal criminal records. Establishes a procedure to notify authorities if a handgun has been purchased by someone subsequently found to be unqualified if the licensee receives this disqualifying information after the transfer has occurred.
[b]
Prohibits the transfer and possession of machine guns. Enables a person to dispose of an unwanted legally registered machine gun by selling it to the Secretary of the Treasury. Makes such prohibition inapplicable to certain lawfully registered machine guns.

Prohibits the transfer and possession of silencers. Authorized the Secretary to to buy any registered silencers.[/b]

Permits gun sales at certain gun shows.

Revises the criteria reviewed by the Secretary in approving applications for licenses. Grants the Secretary authority to suspend rather than to revoke a license.

Eliminates the record-keeping requirements for licensed collectors with respect to transfer of curios to other licensed collectors. Exempts from record-keeping requirements the sale of ammunition in quantities of less than 1,000 rounds.

Allows individuals who have violated the Gun Control Act or the National Firearms Act to apply for relief from the legal disabilities imposed by such statutes. Allows persons formerly found incompetent to lawfully receive and possess firearms when it is found that such possession would not pose a danger to the individual or the safety of the community.

Increases the annual license fee for licensed firearm dealers, pawnbrokers, importers, and manufacturers.

Establishes the Firearms Compliance Fund with the money received from the licensing fees. Allows the fund to be used for grants to States and local agencies to provide assistance in enforcing gun control or the firearm safety program.

Makes a technical correction with regard to the receipt of firearms by a drug addict.

11

Bumped because people continue to post nonsense and have no idea what they are talking about.

12

I can’t and won’t bash Reagan for doing what he did as it was for, and I hate this phrase, ‘the greater good’.

I can and will however besmirch and show contempt for our government as a whole that willfully ignores “Shall not be infringed” out of a self serving fear of another 1776 or 1861.

Everytime I hear “common sense” gun legislation I can only reply common sense term limits and how an 18 year old kid can get kicked out of a plane to die on a rock that nobody but his platoon members will know about or remember but a bunch of charlatans and liars get to exempt themselves and vote for their own pay raises.

So Ronald Reagan (Peace Be Upon Him) did what he could but I hope thete is a hell and everyone who BSed their waybthrough with a voice vote rots in the deepest pits of darkest, coldest Godless Hell

13

I don’t think many will disagree with that assessment.

I’m just providing the whole picture that many of the “Reagan banned machine guns” crowd seem to be completely ignorant of. As is usually the situation with good people, he had to make a choice between two shitty options. If there was a better third option I’m sure he would have taken it.

The reality is we should have never gotten the 1968 gun control act in the first place. And that one contained the first machine gun ban, of course most people have no clue about that. The “sporter clause” within the 1968 GCA is what allowed for all of this nonsense, including the amendment to ban domestic machine guns.

I wish everyone who wrote “it’s Reagan’s fault” on the internet would invest that time and effort into removing the “sporter clause” from the 68 GCA. If we could unite and accomplish that single goal, the basis for every ban including the 1968 ban on imports, 1986 ban on domestic machine guns and the 1989 import ban would be removed and all of those restrictions would either be instantly nullified or vulnerable to legal challenge.

Sadly, despite the internet, too few gun owners understand this.

14

The sporter clause has to go, for good. It is bound to come back and do more harm to 2A; just look at the recent M855 ban attempt.

15

I’ll go you one better Steyr, we never should have had NFA 34 foisted upon us. It was this law that started all the tax and registry nonsense in the first place.

16

Of course.

He’s just peeling back the onion, one layer at a time.

17

Oh yeah, the “sporter clause” is a huge deal. It has played a part in just about every anti-gun legislation since its inception from bans or attempted bans on semi-auto pistols & rifles, standard capacity mags, “Saturday Night Specials”, bayonet lugs, 855 ammo, you name it. All hinging on how “sporting” is interpreted by the ATF. This is a bad, bad deal for the 2A and its supporters and must be eliminated.

In a nut shell:

“Our fundamental constitutional freedoms are not secure as long as federal law gives government bureaucrats unlimited power to apply the subjective term ‘sporting purpose’ to ban the products law-abiding Americans use to exercise their Second Amendment right”
—Chris W. Cox

18

Cause and effect . . . the National Firearms Act of 1934 was a direct result of the National Prohibition Act (aka the Volstead Act) of 1919.

19

In a perfect world, it would all be gone and my grandfather would have bought his Thompson back in the 1930s when he had enough money to buy a car or the gun he wanted and decided to get the gun and keep driving the family delivery vehicle. This was right AFTER they passed the law, needless to say he never got his Thompson.

But of all the laws, I can live with the NFA the most. It’s a tax, not a ban. Granted it functioned as an economic ban, but I could live with it, especially if we could remove the “sporter clause” and open up the NFA registry.

But if I had my magic wand, suppressors would be a “non regulated” accessory no different than a flash hider or muzzle brake. Short barreled rifles and shotguns would simply be a length option. And machine guns would be no different than any other Title I firearm except for the rate with which they consume ammo.

It’s all just crap from the Bonnie and Clyde era and I’d like to point out those dipshits were zapped by guys with BARs. The North Hollywood bank robbery and shootings are a perfect example that criminals can’t be regulated despite the fact that we passed laws in 1934, 1968 and 1986 with the legislative belief that they could prevent exactly that kind of “Dillinger” style hard taking of banks.

20

Actually it had more to do with Prohibition being repealed in December 5, 1933. Couldn’t have all those unemployed Treasury agents during the depression. But never fear, FDR signed the NFA into law June 26, 1934 giving them something new to regulate.

At least handguns weren’t successfully included in the NFA, because they were originally intended to be. Can you imagine this country with no 1911s, Colt revolvers or bring back Lugers through most of the 20th century?