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Abstract
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John Doe is a responsible citizen who desires to purchase his first firearm. After entering a federally-licensed gun store, an AR15 catches John's eye. This popular firearm, a semiautomatic version of the rifle utilized by the United States Armed Forces, has become the quintessential tactical arm. Due to size and weight considerations, John opts to purchase an AR-15 pistol, which has a barrel shorter than sixteen inches and lacks a buttstock. After clearing his background check and paying, John walks out the door and heads home with his pistol locked securely in his trunk. Once home, he begins to browse the Internet for attachments that can be added to the gun. He settles on a forward grip, which will increase stability, accuracy, comfort, and functionality. While an obvious buy, John's decision is fraught with peril. If he adds a vertical forward grip, he may be fined up to $10,000, be forced to forfeit the firearm, and face up to ten years in prison for violating the National Firearms Act of 1934 ("NFA"). However, if John adds an angled grip, which is simply a vertical grip fashioned at roughly a 45-degree angle, he has not violated the law.
This quagmire is the result of regulations and interpretations promulgated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (the "ATF" or the "Bureau") over the past decade. The Bureau's efforts to implement the NFA have created a legal minefield requiring firearm owners to be well-versed in the law and agency regulation to avoid crushing fines and imprisonment. Some have unfortunately fallen prey to this regulatory scheme, such as the defendants in United States v. Davis, (5) United States v. Fix, and United States v. Black. For John, if he really wanted a firearm with a vertical fore-grip, the law requires him to either purchase another AR-15 in a rifle configuration or register his pistol as a short-barrel rifle.
These legal consequences stem from the federal government's first attempt to regulate firearms, an area traditionally regulated by the states. The NFA, signed into law on June 26,1934, by President Franklin Roosevelt, enacted new regulations for manufacturers, transferors, and owners of machine guns; short-barrel rifles; short-barrel shotguns; "any other weapon[s];" antique firearms; and silencers. The law originally required individuals desiring to own one of these restricted firearms to be at least twenty-one years old, pass a background check, submit two copies of their fingerprints and two copies of a recent passport-sized picture to the ATF, seek approval by a Chief Law Enforcement Officer in the individual's jurisdiction, pay a $200 tax stamp that must be kept with the firearm at all times, and register it with the ATF.
Congress envisioned these restrictions and taxes as a means to deter the population at-large from seeking to own these firearms, while also ensuring that the government could track them. While some of these NFA-regulated firearms have discernable and legitimate operational differences from firearms not regulated by the NFA, short-barrel rifles, short-barrel shotguns, and "any other weapon[s]" have fallen prey to an arbitrary set of regulations rooted in fear, not fact.
This Note presents two arguments …
Language: en |