McCrystal Shoots Off His Mouth Again: We Should Look at Banning Weapons that are Already Banned

Last week, retiring Gen. Stanley McCrystal made a stir when he suggested that America ought to take a look at enacting new gun control laws. Specifically, McCrystal said he supports banning military firearms such as M4 and M16 rifles. Such weapons are already banned from civilian ownership except in very few cases, and have been since 1934. Such weapons have played no role in any of the recent shootings that have been in the national headlines.

Appearing on America’s Radio News today with Chris Salcedo, Gen. McCrystal reiterated his stance. You may listen to the full interview at the link.

“I carried an assault weapon for many years, an M4 carbine. I think it’s the best weapon of its type in the world. Shoots a 5.56 round at 3000 feet per second. When it hits human flesh, it’s devastating. And if you see it up close, you know you don’t want it around our schools, you don’t want it on our streets.”

The M4 is not on our streets, at least not legally as a fully automatic weapon. The 5.56 round is fired by many other rifles besides the M4. It is similar in size to the .223 round, and is on the smaller side of rifle rounds that are available to civilians. The devastation an M4 brings upon its target is as much a result of its fully automatic fire rate as from its ammunition.

Gen. McCrystal continued: “I’m not an expert on gun control or the Second Amendment, but I am an expert on that kind of weapon. And I’m an expert on how I feel about my family. So what I want is a national conversation, a mature national conversation, that figures out how we protect innocent people from that kind of weaponry.”

How mature can that conversation be, when so many of its most prominent participants know nothing about current gun laws and refuse to learn anything about them? They admit that they know nothing, as McCrystal does here, yet opine anyway.

Host Chris Salcedo pointed out that with our porous border and lack of ability to control the illegal drug trade, only criminals will have firepower if civilians cannot legally own it.

“Think about the children of Newtown,” McCrystal said in reply. “That is not a philosophical argument. That’s a bloody reality, and that’s the kind of thing that I want us to talk about.”

The weapons that Gen. McCrystal consistently brings up are already banned. They played no role in the recent shootings. They are not among the most powerful available, no matter what the weapons look like. They factor in fewer murderers per year than hammers do. Proper incarceration of murders would have saved the lives of the two firefighters murdered in New York State, by a felon who reportedly used a straw purchaser to obtain his weapons. An armed guard or faculty member would have had the chance to save all those children at Sandy Hook from an armed madman. “Gun Free Zone” signs may as well be painted to look like targets, for all the good they do in protecting innocent life.

Sorry, the author is wrong. Automatic weapons are not banned. They only require a tax stamp to possess. It does not do our side any favors if we accuse others of being ignorant of gun laws and then we show ignorance ourselves.

And you are somewhere between right and wrong. You are correct in that the 1934 NFA did NOT ban machine guns. It created the ATF which established rules for issuing $200 excise tax stamps and a process requiring you to file a completed ATF Form 4 which entails background checks, fingerprints, mugshots, and a sign off by the chief law enforcement officer in your county/parish. Here is a copy for you to read, filling it out is like a "Kabuki Dance".
http://www.atf.gov/forms/download/atf-f-5320-4.pdf

It has been unlawful since 1934 (The National Firearms Act) for civilians to own machine guns without special permission from the U.S. Treasury Department (old news, ATF is now under DOJ). Machine guns are subject to a $200 tax every time their ownership changes from one federally registered owner to another, and each new weapon is subject to a manufacturing tax when it is made, and it must be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in its National Firearms Registry.

To become a registered owner, a complete FBI background investigation is conducted, checking for any criminal history or tendencies toward violence, and an application must be submitted to the ATF including two sets of fingerprints, a recent photo, a sworn affidavit that transfer of the NFA firearm is of "reasonable necessity," and that sale to and possession of the weapon by the applicant "would be consistent with public safety." The application form also requires the signature of a chief law enforcement officer with jurisdiction in the applicant's residence.

Here is where you really went astray. Firearms Owners' Protection Act of May 19,1986 has banned the sale of fully automatic weapons produced AFTER that date. The effect of this law is to limit the total number of machine guns available to "collectors" to a finite number, those produced before 19 May 1986. Thus M-16s and M-4 carbines produced before that date are NFA legal to sell under the procedures established by the NFA of 1934. Being that there are a fixed quantity and an increasing supply of dollars chasing these items, the price is very high and continues to rise. Pre '86 ban machine guns are now considered an investment. M-16s in this category are going for $17,000.00 to $20,000.00. Anything produced since the ban is not an NFA item and not available to civilians.

Since the Firearms Owners' Protection Act of May 19, 1986, ownership of newly manufactured machine guns has been prohibited to civilians. Machine guns which were manufactured prior to the Act's passage are regulated under the National Firearms Act, but those manufactured after the ban cannot ordinarily be sold to or owned by civilians.

(Sources: talk.politics.guns FAQ, part 2, "FAQ on National Firearms Act Weapons", and from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms,and Explosives (ATF) National Firearms Act FAQ. See also, "The Firearms Owners' Protection Act: A Historical and Legal Perspective" [Hardy, 1986]) )

Regards,
GtG

PS This particularly twisted piece of legislation applies only to fully automatic weapons. Short barreled rifles and shotguns, suppressors, "destructive devices" (bore greater than 0.50"), and "any other weapon" (catch all category for things like cane guns, palm guns, pen guns, pipe (smoking) guns, holsters that let you fire the enclosed pistol w/o removing it, &c, &c.) These appear to be legitimate NFA items that do not fall under the 1986 ban. They still require an excise tax stamp ($200.00 for all except "any other...", $5.00 for that one) and they require that you file a completed ATF Form 4 with fingerprints, mugshot, and signoff from chief LEO and your NFA Dealer. Lots of ATF rules apply to how and where you can travel with your NFA item. Don't plan on taking it across State lines w/o telling ATF first. You must tell them if you move your place of residence. There all sorts of niggling little details that you must observe when the owner of a NFA item, screw up and forfeit your new toy, pay a fine and face a possible felony conviction.

You are forgetting that you can manufacture you own firearms including M4s. You cant sell them or transport them across state lines but you can make them for yourself.

Yes you can manufacture your own firearm but the 1986 ban prevents you from "manufacturing" an M-4 full auto. See my post 42. If you do attempt to build a semi-auto only M-4 keep the barrel length 16" or greater lest you inadvertently build a "short barreled rifle" which is an NFA item and gets you are in trouble DEEP. Owning both a short barrel and a legal-length rifle could be construed as intent to build an illegal, unregistered SBR.
http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/national-firearms-act-short-barreled-rifles-shotguns.html

ATF has volumes of information available regarding NFA items, it's best to read up on this stuff before you venture forth.

Regards,
GtG

Here is where you really went astray. Firearms Owners' Protection Act of May 19,1986 has banned the sale of fully automatic weapons produced AFTER that date. I have never said anything that was in opposition to the above statement. I did say (and correctly so) that a person can self make a NON-TRANSFERABLE machine gun (still subject to ATF form 2, tax stamp, etc).

If I'm reading you correctly, you assert that you can build a one off machine gun by filing an ATF Form 2, paying the Special (Occupational) Tax which is required by the NFA to be paid by a Federal firearms licensee engaged in the business of manufacturing, importing, or dealing in NFA firearms.

It appears that in order to correctly file the Form 2 you are going to need an FFL as a manufacturer of class III items.

In short you are going to become a licensed manufacturer of firearms to produce one gun which you can not sell? When you've invested that much you may as well open a business and go pro!

Take a look at form 1, it seems more to be what you need for this hypothetical one off project.

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