It is long past time for another federal amnesty for machine guns, suppressors, and all other items swept under the suffocating weight of the National Firearms Act. For nearly a century, our government has trampled on the Second Amendment, treating a constitutional right as a privilege to be taxed, restricted, and endlessly regulated. The plain truth is that the National Firearms Act was, and remains, an open violation of the right to keep and bear arms. Yet our courts have repeatedly turned their backs on this constitutional assault, refusing to restrain federal power or strike down the unlawful taxes and prohibitions that have smothered the freedoms of law-abiding Americans.
In 1968, even Washington briefly acknowledged the injustice. During that rare moment, the government offered an amnesty, allowing the lawful registration of tens of thousands of NFA firearms, nearly 100,000 in all. But that mercy was fleeting; in the decades since, no administration has dared to extend such relief again. The result has been a quiet tyranny, criminalizing countless citizens through the mere possession of items that should have been protected all along.
A renewed amnesty would not only restore a measure of fairness but also serve the government’s own supposed interests, finally clarifying the location and record of these arms. Thousands of firearms were legally converted or modified in ways that later brought their owners into inadvertent conflict with the NFA. An amnesty would correct that without punishing honest Americans who have become victims of bureaucratic overreach.
Here is the real history of the 1968 amnesty and the legislative twists that have followed in its wake:
The United States has had one genuine, nationwide amnesty for unregistered National Firearms Act weapons. It happened after Congress passed the Gun Control Act of 1968, which amended the NFA.
Authority: 26 U.S.C. § 207(d) (as enacted in 1968).
What it allowed:
Owners of unregistered machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, silencers, and destructive devices could register them without penalty.
Why it happened:
Congress realized that thousands of war trophies and pre-1968 NFA items were floating around unregistered. Criminalizing every veteran and collector overnight would have been political suicide, so they opened an amnesty window.
Dates:
The official federal amnesty ran from November 2, 1968 through December 1, 1968.
Aftermath:
Roughly 90,000 NFA firearms were registered. Many more never were, because most owners either didn’t know about the amnesty or didn’t trust the government. Anything that was not registered during that window became contraband forever and cannot legally be registered today.
There has never been another national amnesty since.
The Alleged 1970s Amnesty
- ATF proposed additional amnesties during the 1970s under the authority Congress gave them in 1968.
- None of these proposed amnesties were ever implemented.
Bureaucratic infighting and political fears about “legalizing machine guns” killed the idea every time.
Bottom Line
- One real amnesty: 1968 NFA Amnesty.
- Current law: The registry has been closed to new civilian machine guns since May 19, 1986 per the Hughes Amendment in the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. § 922(o). Unregistered machine guns can never be made legal.
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