As you can see, we've quietly added a new discussion area to focus specifically upon special purpose weapons, and most specifically, those covered by the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) and Title 2 of the 1968 Gun Control Act (GCA).

For purposes of our discussion here, NFA weapons will be understood to include Machine Guns, Short Barreled Shotguns, Short Barreled Rifles, Supressors, Destructive Devices and Any Other Weapons (AOW), such as pen guns, smoothbore pistols, and the like.

Essentially, all of these weapons were considered "transferable" to private citizens until passage of the McClure-Volkmer Act (also known as the Firearms Owners' Protection Act) which ended the legal transfer of any new Machine Guns after the 19th of May, 1986. It is for this reason that "transferable" Machine Guns, or those registered prior to the May 19th deadline, have increased exponentially in value in the years since.

It is no longer possible to convert civilian AR-15 rifles into legal Machine Guns, but federal law still provides for ownership of most other NFA weapons, as long as there are no state or local prohibitions in place restricting their use. A majority of the states do provide for at least some NFA accomodation.

Our purpose here is not to serve as an authoritative primer on NFA law, nor to survey all of the provisions of current BATF policy; however, we do welcome discussion on relevant NFA topics such as supressors, Short Barrelled Rifles (or SBRs), and the components commonly associated with these weapons. Your input is welcome -- and encouraged -- as we expand this area throughout 2009.

AC