It is not the first time in history that Americans have faced this dilemma.ShepherdTX wrote:If I do not register it's a huge risk. ... search my vehicle for unregistered weapons and find one. And with that, off to the federal prison I go with no chance of fighting back or ever owning a gun again.
If I do register, they will simply swing by and confiscate it when the next mass shooting takes place. And another mass shooting will happen because none of these proposed nonsense laws will increase safety at all. It's just a matter of time.
See the veterans returning from World War One were "guesstimated" to have brought over a million machine guns home form Europe as war trophies. Similarly, there were millions of machine guns brought home by veterans returning from World War II. Also, it wasn't just war trophies. There were millions of full-auto guns sold at surplus after the war. You could commonly buy machine guns via mail order prior to 1968. I've seen the ads for WWI "Tommy Guns" for $110 back in the sixties.
Back then, you might spend the $200 tax stamp if you wanted to cross state lines, but if you simply possessed the gun in your own state the the 1934 NFA didn't apply.
Then the 1968 GCA was passed, and it had a provision covering NFA weapons, such as full auto. The bill was signed Oct. 22, 1968, and then offered a 30 day grace period from Nov 2nd to Dec 1st where any NFA firearms could be registered with immunity from prosecution. After that date, none of the NFA firearms that were left unregistered could ever become registered in the future.
NFA Firearms owners were left with the same issue. Register them and risk confiscation, or don't register them and possess illegal contraband in the future.