The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action warns gun owners that Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s new assault weapons ban would impose a $200 tax on hundreds of existing semi-automatic rifle models.
According to Feinstein’s bill summary, the legislation requires owners of semi-automatic rifles – deemed as assault weapons – to register their gun with the Federal Government under the National Firearms Act.
The National Firearms Act, first enacted in 1934, was passed to choke the sale and transfer of automatic weapons.
Under the current NFA, owners of automatic weapons are allowed to keep their weapons but requires an owner to submit photographs and fingerprints to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE).
A $200 tax on an NFA firearm is imposed each time a NFA weapon is registered or transferred to a different address. Presumably, each weapon registered as an NFA firearm would be subject to the same restrictions.
But Feinstein’s bill goes even further, which would ban the transfer of “assault weapons.” According to the NRA-ILA, that means current owners of the banned weapons would only allow them keep them until they die. Instead of the gun passing down to an heir, the NRA-ILA warns, it would be forfeited to the government.
