Once again, this was the version they were TRYING to pass.
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...me-Control-Act
So if you ever wondered how exactly the 86 MG Ban aka FOPA 86 happened and why the NRA and a NRA Life Member President (Ronald Reagan) would sign such a thing, you might find this interesting reading.
This is from the Jan. 1986 issue of Soldier of Fortune and this is the legislation Peter Rodino (D-NJ) and William Hughes (D-NJ) were hoping to get passed.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquer...temp/~bdaPBa::
Under the intended law pre 86 machine guns would be "grandfathered" but non transferable. That means when the owners died, the estate would be required to sell the weapons to the Secretary of the Treasury.
That means damn few people would own ANY machine guns today and nobody would be able to buy one at all. And it contained only a few of the beneficial provisions of FOPA (Firearm Owners Protection Act) 86 in order to make it attractive to some gun owners.
It permitted dealers to sell at gun shows and raised the price of FFL costs to $200 hoping to entice gun dealers to support it by giving them the opportunity to do gun shows and drive "kitchen table" FFLs out of the market. At the time I think a FFL was about $60 for three years.
It eliminated the record keeping requirement for ammo sales (unless it was for 1,000 rounds or more), with FOPA there was no requirement for any record keeping for ammo sales which had existed since 1968.
And this law would not only close the registration for machine guns, but suppressors as well. That means almost NOBODY here would own any kind of suppressor at all.
This is what the NRA and the President were up against with a Democrat majority Congress. This bill would have done little to eliminate abuses and excesses of the 1968 Gun Control Act and would have closed the books on machine guns and suppressors.
It would not contain provisions that protected people from traveling with firearms through states where they are illegal.
It would not contain provisions that protected non dealers who made favorable sales or trades of personal weapons.
It would not contain provisions that allowed the importation of surplus military rifles.
What we got instead was FOPA and Reagan did not have a line item veto. It was ALL or NOTHING and this was the first time since 1968 that some of the worst parts of the 1968 gun control act were eliminated.
It could have been much worse. Most of you guys wouldn't survive if their was no FOPA and if Hughes got the law HE wanted your heads would explode.