Read on Twitter
I know you'll be shocked to learn this is not an accurate portrayal of Biden's gun proposals. BUT in case you're curious or want to hash it out with family members who share it, here's a thread with a few quick details... https://twitter.com/NRA/status/1269783140001878017
Biden wants assault weapons (an admittedly vague term for militaristic semiautomatics, but mostly we're talking AR-15s) to be registered under the National Firearms Act. Wait, some might ask, why aren't they already? Because...
The National Firearms Act was passed n 1934 to inhibit gangland violence (picture Al Capone, tommy guns etc). It was initially supposed to regulate everything down to handguns, but got whittled down to mostly just apply to machine guns.
These days, the National Firearms Act regulates machine guns, explosive devices (grenades and such), silencers and sawed-off shotguns/rifles (because they're made to be concealed).
Because of the 2nd Amendment, Americans are still free to buy machine guns and such, but the Firearms Act requires you get the approval of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after a background check.
Biden has said he wants assault weapons like AR-15s to fall under the Firearms Act so that buying them will require the same background check as a machine gun. After seeing the carnage AR-15s have been used to inflict in US mass shootings, that's....reasonable.
Some gun-control advocates want to see banning and mandatory buybacks of assault weapons, but Biden is famously moderate as liberals go, so his middle ground is to require they be registered + mandatory background checks.
Biden wants to offer a voluntary buyback program for assault weapons, and those who don't sell theirs back will be required to register them under the Firearms Act.
OK, so where is the NRA's math coming from, you ask? Well...
OK, so where is the NRA's math coming from, you ask? Well...
Waaaay back in 1934, the Firearms Act implemented a $200 transfer tax on weapons it regulated. Get this: the tax has NEVER CHANGED. $200 in 1934 equals $3,800 in modern-day dollars. Wild. So it's gone from being a huge limitation to a relative inconvenience.
The NRA is arguing via its meme that Biden wants to tax all your existing assault weapons and high-capacity clips at a rate of $200 per. I'm guessing this is based on the longtime Firearms Act tax of $200.
The problem with this logic is that the $200 tax (already crazy low due to never being raised in 80+ years) is a transfer tax, so it's applied at change of ownership, not registration.
COULD Biden implement a registration tax? I suppose, but it's simply a lie to say it's part of any current Biden plan.
In short, if you own an AR-15 and Biden's plans go through 100% as intended (unlikely, but let's say it happens), you could either sell it back to the government or register it under the Firearms Act.
Fwiw I'm guessing few gun owners would do either, and we'll see a record number of reports of AR-15s "lost in boating mishaps." But at least future purchases would require background checks, which is better than what we have now.
