Gun Control Reform Activism

It doesn't explain it. It glosses right over it, but there it is:

The registry was working fine. Fewer than 5 crimes were committed between 1934 and 1986 with a lawfully owned and registered machine gun. Then the Hughes Amendment, by voice vote, closed the registry to new submissions. Technically new manufacture wasn't outlawed, they still make them for Law Enforcement and the Military, but civilians can't register them anymore.

That closure is why the GOPA outlaws new federal firearms registries. The NFA registry was just fine, until it wasn't, so the trust is gone.


There was absolutely no reason to close the registry. It was the most beautiful, successful, and effective piece of gun control legislation ever crafted in the United States, and now it's Exhibit A when you ask any gun owner 'why are registries a bad idea?'.

Without resorting to an outright ban on all firearms, we will never replicate the astounding success of the 1934 NFA, without repealing the Hughes Amendment, and re-opening the NFA registry to new guns.