President Trump has a tool to push for the passage of legislation, such as the Hearing Protection Act. The executive branch, specifically the Secretary of the Treasury, can unilaterally declare an amnesty for people registering NFA items with the ATF. Congress passed the Gun Control Act of 1968 under enormous pressure from President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968. At the same time, Congress passed a statute authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to declare amnesties to allow people to register items covered by the act.
There are limitations. A single amnesty cannot last for longer than 90 days. The Secretary of the Treasury must announce the amnesty in the Federal Register before the amnesty takes effect. From PUBLIC LAW 90-619-OCT. 22, 1968, found on page 1236 of United States Statutes at Large Volume 82:
(d) The Secretary of the Treasury, after publication in the Federal Register of his intention to do so, is authorized to establish such periods of amnesty, not to exceed ninety days in the case of any single period, and immunity from liability during any such period, as the Secretary determines will contribute to the purposes of this title. TITLE III — AMENDMENTS TO TITLE VII OF THE OMNIBUS CRIME CONTROL AND SAFESTREETS ACT OF 1968
The law does not appear to have been altered or repealed since 1968. The first amnesty was for only 30 days. No other amnesty has been put in place, which this author knows of, since that time.
With this law, the Secretary of the Treasury is granted almost unlimited discretion. The Secretary may place limitations on amnesties, which may apply to certain items or classes of items. An amnesty can waive requirements for taxes or other provisions of current law, such as the requirement for fingerprints. The Secretary can establish immunity from liability.
Do you wish to allow people to purchase and register silencers/suppressors without the $200 tax and the burdensome paperwork? The Secretary of the Treasury can do so for 90 days at a time. There does not appear to be any other limit on how many amnesties can be announced and implemented.
When the GCA 1968 was passed, people in the firearms community believed amnesties would be a regular feature of the administration of the act. The Congress had given the Secretary of the Treasury almost unlimited authority to do so.
No amnesty has been announced for 56 years. It is long past time to do so. The Trump administration could use amnesties as a lever to push Congress into approving firearms reform legislation. If Congress does not approve the reform legislation, the Trump administration will declare an amnesty crafted to produce the desired result. Amnesties could be for all NFA items or one. They could include taxes or not.
This correspondent thinks the most productive approach would be to go after the most idiotic and counter productive of items included in the NFA first. Remove silencers/suppressors first. The effective economic ban on their use by the public has been a massive governmental health disaster, costing tens of millions of people significant hearing loss.
Then go after short barreled rifles. Even the Roosevelt administration did not consider them to be a problem in 1933. It was only the stupid, drunk, or Machiavellian representative from Minnesota who insisted they be included in the legislation. Pistols have been firmly established as protected under the Second Amendment. To claim putting a stock on a pistol, to make it more accurate and harder to conceal, increases criminal use, is absurd.
Repeal the ban on the acquisition of machine guns put into effect in 1986. There never was any legitimate reason for the ban. People with legally registered machine guns were probably the most law-abiding group in the country.
All of the above are likely to happen with court challenges. Some of the challenges, such as silencers/suppressors, are already in play. Using the potential of court challenges is another lever the Trump administration could use to incentivize Congress to pass reform legislation.
It would be best to repeal the 1968 GCA and the 1934 NFA in their entirety. This correspondent thinks the political will to do so does not yet exist.
This correspondent is not a lawyer. Other people may interpret the NFA Amnesty law differently. The author’s opinion on the law should not be relied on for legal advice.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
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