National Firearms Act of 1934
The National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934 is a significant piece of legislation in the United States aimed at regulating certain types of firearms, particularly those associated with organized crime during the Prohibition era. With the rise of violent crime involving weapons like the Thompson submachine gun, the NFA was introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration as a response to public safety concerns. The act requires individuals to pay a federal tax and register specific firearms, including machine guns and short-barreled rifles, thereby establishing a framework for federal oversight of these weapons.
Initially, handguns were included in the proposal but were removed following discussions with the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NFA has faced legal challenges, most notably in the Supreme Court case United States v. Miller, which upheld its constitutionality and clarified the scope of the Second Amendment regarding firearms. Over the years, the NFA has been amended, influencing later legislation on firearms regulation. By employing tax regulations to control firearm ownership, the NFA set a precedent for future laws, including the Marihuana Tax Act and the Federal Firearms Act. The act marks a critical evolution in the dialogue surrounding gun control in the U.S., setting the stage for ongoing discussions that continue to this day.
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National Firearms Act of 1934
The Law Federal law imposing a tax and a registration requirement on certain types of guns
Date Became law June 26, 1934
Also known as NFA
The first major federal gun-control law, the National Firearms Act (NFA) imposed what was at the time a heavy tax of two hundred dollars on machine guns and some other weapons. The tax burden significantly slowed, but did not eliminate, acquisition of such weapons by Americans.
Alcohol prohibition in the 1920’s and early 1930’s had resulted in a proliferation of organized crime. The bootlegging gangsters sometimes shot one another, most spectacularly with Thompson submachine guns—a portable automatic rifle. Many famous bank robberies occurred during the 1930’s, including some by Machine Gun Kelly and John Dillinger, who used Thompsons.
Accordingly, the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidential administration proposed the NFA, which required the owners and future acquirers of certain weapons to pay a federal tax and to federally register their guns. Attorney General Homer S. Cummings told the House Ways and Means Committee that the administration had chosen to use tax power because an outright ban would violate the Second Amendment.
As originally proposed, the NFA also applied to handguns. At the request of the National Rifle Association (NRA), handguns were removed from the bill, and with NRA consent, the revised NFA was adopted with little controversy. The NFA has been amended over the years.
Impact
The NFA was constitutionally tested and upheld by a unanimous Supreme Court during the 1939 case of United States v. Miller. Following a line of state constitutional law cases from the twentieth century, Miller held that not all firearms are necessarily protected by the Second Amendment.
The NFA tactic of using the federal tax power to assert federal control over intrastate activity was copied by the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, the Federal Firearms Act (FFA) of 1938, and by many subsequent laws. After the NFA settled the machine-gun issue, and the FFA imposed some restrictions on licensed dealers, the gun-control issue lay mostly dormant until the 1960’s.
Bibliography
Carter, Gregg Lee. Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 2002.
Frye, Brian. “The Peculiar Story of United States v. Miller.” NYU Journal of Law and Liberty 3, no. 1 (2008): 48-82.