Unregistered AK-47s brought back from Vietnam?

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Can someone explain this "Hughes Amendment" to me?
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The short version is here.

Basically, it was a ban on the transfer of any machine gun to a civilian, unless it was manufactured and registered prior to 1986. What that did was limit civilian ownership to a pre-existing, fixed pool of "pre-86" guns.

(You can guess what that did to the values of legal, transferrable machine guns.)
 
Fed prison may be slightly better than the state pen, but it's still prison. No thanks, that thing is a flame waiting to burn someone to ashes. It needs to be turned in ASAP, if it exists.
 
I woud be terrified if I unwittingly acquired it. Living in NY where they are only too happy to make an example of anyone they can to show their zero tolerance for illegal weapons I would be worried about them coming after me. Yes, in this jurisdiction I fear the actions of local law enforcement and the DA in such matters and would rather not loose every penny and my freedom fighting it.
 
I was under the impression that one of the rules on this forum is not to promote illegal activity.

Telling anyone to keep quiet about an illegal firearm does promote an illegal activity.

The rifle needs to be turned in to the government. If you do not like it, write to your congressman/woman and complain and try to get the laws changed.
 
Mens reas which is the mental state during the commission of the crime.
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Not being sarcastic, nasty or (IMHO) engaging in hyperbole but basicly in reality Mens Rea is frequently no longer required for criminal prosecution. This is not legal theory this is just the way American jurisprudence is evolving in the real world.

My understanding is that too many people would just claim that they did not know anything about that it was illegal.

Please not I did not say I like it, just that is the way the judical system is going.

NukemJim
 
I was under the impression that one of the rules on this forum is not to promote illegal activity.

Telling anyone to keep quiet about an illegal firearm does promote an illegal activity.
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Also, you should drive no faster than the speed limit on highways, and people under the age of 21 should not drink alcohol except under supervision of their legal guardians.

I've seen no objections to the idea of turning in only the receiver and sear and trigger group through a lawyer, keeping the rest and building a legal semi-auto AK with the remaining parts. The receiver is always tainted; freely transferable parts that do not have any connection to full-auto functionality should be okay AFAIK, but then again I do not have all of the BATFE's silly power-tripping rules memorized.

Mens Rea for things like this entails whether you knew the firearm was there, not whether you knew it was illegal. (If you didn't know it was there then it's not constructively in your possession, but that kind of argument almost never flies because the courts hear all day every day that Joe Smith caught with illegal firearms/drugs/stolen-property didn't know it was there, it must have been their friend's, etc.)
 
A friend of my dad's did three tours in Vietnam during the "exciting" years, in several different of the more exotic areas. During his time there, the units he worked with uncovered many hundreds, if not thousands, of AK-47's. I asked him once what happened with these weapons, and he told me that none were ever allowed to be kept by the troops. He did not know what happened to them, but it wasn't up to the combat troops or the commanders how to dispose of these weapons. Nagants, on the other hand....tons of them came back - along with Enfields and even a few Springfields he remembers seeing, along with all kinds of other semi-auto, never full-auto, weapons.

And when you think about it, this makes a lot of sense - how many "bringbacks" of MP-38/40's and StG-44's and the like came back from WWII? Extraordinarily few, considering the number of American soldiers fighting in Europe and the vast numbers of arms we captured.
 
I've seen no objections to the idea of turning in only the receiver and sear and trigger group through a lawyer, keeping the rest and building a legal semi-auto AK with the remaining parts. The receiver is always tainted; freely transferable parts that do not have any connection to full-auto functionality should be okay AFAIK, but then again I do not have all of the BATFE's silly power-tripping rules memorized.
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I wouldnt call proper law enforcement technique "power tripping".

Guns obtained by the BATF are fired and casings retained and compared. Not a bad idea, yes?

99% of the time they arent interested in prosecution.

Wildhellanakpartskitis$100Alaska ™©2002-2010
 
She shows it to a gun dealer, who offers her around $500 for it. Let's also assume that the gun dealer doesn't realize he's not buying a semi-auto knockoff.
When somebody buys the thing off the dealer and discovers that it's full auto
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This thread has finally veered away from the Widow's culpability and into the end user's....for me me to finally ask.....could this hypothetical go this far?

Does the gun store have to run the firearm's numbers to buy the gun, and would the gun even be marked in english characters?
The idea that a foreign machine gun can enter the Federal Firearms system, and then make it thru thru another FFL sale, and not be flagged....?
I don't get it. That FFL is buying and selling machine guns. If I walk into a gun shop today and exit with a machine gun that I bought as a semi auto, I got problems and he isn't 100% the reason why?:(

Strange world.

99% of the time they arent interested in prosecution.
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I would most likely take it back to the shop and deal with it right then and there and count on the common sense of the above...for all parties to have resolution and the chips can just fall where they fall. But I will not be leaving that shop again, with that gun. What's that old saying about light being the best disinfectant?
 
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I was under the impression that one of the rules on this forum is not to promote illegal activity.

Telling anyone to keep quiet about an illegal firearm does promote an illegal activity.
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This statement that I made was in consideration of the "Shoot it - just don't tell anyone" crowd.

As far as stripping the gun and turning in the receiver, I have no problem with that. What I do have a problem with is people advocating (Especially to a new member who really does not know) breaking the law.
 
Okay, completely leaving aside the fact that only half your list is remotely accurate... what's your point? That some people in politics commit crimes,
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My point in listing a few politicians that are crooks just goes to show that it is not "nutty" to think that your politicians are criminals. Many are. And, although I tend to think there are more criminals in one party than the other - they both have their share of criminals and perverts.

There are two types of people that become politicians - those that are in love with power, status, and money; and those that honestly want to change something they find repugnant about the political establishment. Unfortunately the latter are about as rare and elusive as sasquatch.
 
Why is this subject rehashed over and over again? The answer is no, any way you want to slice and dice it. I can't change the laws, you can't change the laws, the law is not going to be changed. FWIW if someone brought a fully auto AK 47 from Nam, it was an illegal act. Any war time AK , had to be deactivated prior to being a war souvenir. When the army got done deactivating it, believe me it would never shoot again, even semi auto. I don't want to hurt any ones feelings , but only an idiot would keep arguing the point.:rolleyes:
 
Does the gun store have to run the firearm's numbers to buy the gun, and would the gun even be marked in english characters?
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This is a good point that I hadn't thought of. Like I said, this scenario really IS hypothetical--it was inspired by an anecdote I heard from a friend about the friend of a relative of his. I actually have no idea how it turned out, but was curious what would happen to someone who was ignorantly in that situation.

My point in listing a few politicians that are crooks just goes to show that it is not "nutty" to think that your politicians are criminals.
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So power corrupts some people. Okay. But it IS nutty to extend that into a giant overarching conspiracy to "oppress those who yearn to breathe free." :rolleyes:
 
He did not know what happened to them, but it wasn't up to the combat troops or the commanders how to dispose of these weapons. Nagants, on the other hand....tons of them came back - along with Enfields and even a few Springfields he remembers seeing, along with all kinds of other semi-auto, never full-auto, weapons.
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Two things played greatly into this.

The first is the National Firearms Act of 1934. This required specific paperwork and paying a $200 tax for a civilian to own a machinegun. Not too many vets returning from WWII cared for the paperwork or could spare the $200. They brought these guns back, but never registered them. Over the years, they have been destroyed or confiscated. Many were registered during a machinegun amnesty in 1968. They still turn up today, as this thread implies.

The second thing was the 1968 Gun Control Act. This law required that imported firearms for civilians be considered "sporting". No more machinegun imports for the peasant class, including war trophies.
 
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