In Texas statutes, Part 46.05(a) lists some gadgets which can be forbidden to knowingly possess, manufacture, restore, or promote. The statute contains short-barreled firearms, which have been closely regulated by the federal authorities since 1934. SB1596 strikes short-barreled firearms from the checklist of prohibited gadgets. From SB1596:
Any of the next gadgets, except the merchandise is registered within the Nationwide Firearms Registration and Switch Document maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms andExplosives or in any other case not topic to that registration requirement or except the merchandise is assessed as a curio or relic by the USA Division of Justice:
(A) an explosive weapon; or
(B) a machine gun; [or
(C) a short-barrel firearm;
Short-barreled firearms were in common use before 1934. Most people will immediately see the silliness of this rule. Handguns are protected by the Second Amendment. Handguns are short-barreled firearms.
How is it that handguns are not regulated by the law regulating short-barreled rifles and shotguns?
The answer goes back to 1934. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was President. He had appointed Montana Senator Thomas Walsh as Attorney General. Senator Walsh had uncovered the Teapot Dome Scandal. Senator Walsh died on a train en route to DC. Then, President Roosevelt appointed Homer Cummings, from Connecticut, as Attorney General.
Cummings devised the scheme to pack the Supreme Court and, essentially, created the FBI. He was also a gun control advocate who proposed circumventing the Second Amendment by using the federal government’s taxing power to regulate the ownership and possession of firearms, especially handguns.
Originally, the 1934 bill required all handguns to be registered and licensed by the federal government. Firearms enthusiasts rebelled against the idea. The NRA agreed to a compromise: allow sawed-off shotguns, machine guns, and silencers to be banned by extortionist taxes, but remove handguns from the bill.
At the time, there were few machineguns or silencers in private hands. The taxes imposed on silencers, short-barreled shotguns, and short-barreled rifles were 10-20 times the cost of the items, about six months’ worth of wages. The NFA was an effective ban on formerly legal items, using federal taxes as the tool.
In a curious twist, the Cummings Department of Justice never meant to include short-barreled rifles in the bill. They were included at the insistence of Harold Knutson, a representative from Minnesota on the Ways and Means committee. Knutson’s comments did not make sense, but the DOJ agreed to add them to the bill.
FDR went on to be elected to four terms. He appointed numerous federal judges, transforming the federal court system into a Progressive court system. Progressive judges were more interested in finding ways to subvert constitutional limits than in enforcing the Constitution. Multiple states endorsed the federal prohibitions, under the realization of how weak the federal “ban through taxes” was under the Constitution. Texas was one of those states. The Supreme Court has since ruled that taxes, aimed at an enumerated right protected by the Bill of Rights, are not an allowed workaround.
Why is SB1596 so relevant today?
Inflation wore away the extortionist taxes imposed by AG Cummings’ 1934 bill. More people experienced using silencers and short-barreled firearms. They saw the obvious stupidity of the 1934 law. Texas lawmakers removed the state prohibition on silencers. Now, Texas lawmakers are moving to do the same with short-barreled firearms.
The Texas bill will not affect the federal law, except to showcase the stupidity of the federal regulation. Ridicule is a powerful political tool.
The fundamental assumption behind the 1934 law is: Guns are bad. More guns are worse. It is a false assumption.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
