In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Options
gun control acts?
GreatBeefalo
Member Posts: 165 ✭✭✭
what did the GCA of 1968 and the other ban in 1986 do? I know about the NFA in 1934...anyone have a link or more info?
Conservatism, my anti-drug
Conservatism, my anti-drug
Comments
I don't have the links beyond suggesting you use your favorite Search engine and look up Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and you will be directed to some of the most confusing government wesites I have ever seen with doors that lead no where (reminds me of the Winchester Mansion in San Francisco). Let me see if I can give you the highpoints from my days long ago in a galaxy far, far away (the years are the same) when I worked for two of America's top retailers selling firearms and some I know from all I bought since:
1.) NFA '34 - you mention you know this one. Congress wanted to outlaw machineguns but realized that would be violating the 2nd Amendment so they set up a process that required criminal background checks and paying an "inconvenience" tax of $200 (which bought you a decent car at the time; if it stayed up with inflation it would be $20,000 today and there are some who want to raise it so) and other rules that did not not "Infringe" upon the people's rights. Early challenges showed that is was an infringment but the Supreme Court decided that a "sawed-off shotgun had no militia purpose" and subsequently could be outlawed (U.S. v Miller; but it did leave an open precedent that the weapons protected by 2nd Amendment are the big "ugly" ones called assault weapons).
2.) GCA '68 - The government decided that since most gun sales involved interstate commerce the Federal government could control the sale of firearms. No more anonymously ordering them through a catalog like Lee Harvey Oswald. The gun dealer had to be licensed to receive firearms through interstate transport and he/she had to physically see you and check your I.D. to make sure you were who you said your were and your age was appropriate for the firearms you were purchasing (18 rifle and rifle ammunition, 21 handguns and handgun ammunition) and a record had to be made of the sale of the firearm and the ammunition if it could fit in a handgun. No one could own a .50 caliber or higher which meant you could have a .499 but not .500. There was a list of questions that asked basically if you were any of the people prohibited from buying a gun, namely: Felons, drug addicts, illegal aliens, dishonorably discharged veterans, the mentally defective, members of subversive groups, fugitives on the run, person who had denounced their U.S. Citizenship (as you look at this list you see the assassins of JFK and MLK real close).
Over the years there has been lightening of some rules (now .50 caliber is the max) and tightening of others. You can buy ammunition and firearms from licensed dealers anywhere in the U.S. that is not prohibited locally and they no longer have to keep records on handgun ammunition sales. Now with felons are persons who have engaged in domestic violence that are banned from buying guns. There is the background check. You must state you are buying a firearm for your own personal use (your personal use can be to give it as a gift but don't give it to anyone disqualified under other aspects of the law except for age and that should be a relative like son, daughter, nephew, etc. whose use of the firearm you will be supervising).
3.) 86' was mostly banning the import of some firearms that some people did not like to have around to include the infamous Uzi. You can still buy an Uzi but they must be made with a combination of home-grown parts and foreign imported parts.
4.) The Brady Bill Phase I (the Brady campaign's words) began the background check and the domestic violation prohibition.
5.) The Assault Weapons Ban banned the continued manufacture of some Ugly Guns mostly on cosmetic features which made them look like their military counterparts. This ban expired due to no real proof that it had an effect on violent crime and these weapons were hardly used (whatever Hollywood may tell us) in crime in the first place.
I hope this quick rundown was helpful and give it a few minutes, somebody will cover something I missed.
For understanding amongst allies,
Peter W. Wickham, Jr.
AKA The Ol' Grey Ghost
"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it."
Gen. Robert E. Lee,Army of Northern Virginia, C.S.A. Deo Vindice
http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia/g/gu/gun_control_act_of_1968.html
"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it."
Gen. Robert E. Lee,Army of Northern Virginia, C.S.A. Deo Vindice
Conservatism, my anti-drug