Title II weapons - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Title II weapons, or NFA firearms, are certain firearm

Firearm

A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...

s, explosive munitions, and other devices which are heavily regulated in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

by the National Firearms Act

National Firearms Act

The National Firearms Act , 73rd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, , enacted on June 26, 1934, currently codified as amended as , is an Act of Congress that, in general, imposes a statutory excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms and mandates the registration of those firearms. The...

(NFA). Any violation of the NFA is a felony

Felony

A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...

punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Per the Summary of Gun Control Act of 1968:
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), which enforces federal firearms law

Gun law in the United States

Gun law in the United States is defined by a number of state and federal statutes. In the United States of America, the protection against infringement of the right to keep and bear arms is addressed in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution...

, refers to such weapons as "NFA firearms". In addition to machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, heavy weapons and explosive ordnance, NFA firearms include silencer

Suppressor

A suppressor, sound suppressor, sound moderator, or silencer, is a device attached to or part of the barrel of a firearm which reduces the amount of noise and flash generated by firing the weapon....

s and "any other weapon" (AOW), such as disguised or improvised firearms.

Explosive materials are not considered NFA firearms; they are regulated under the Organized Crime Control Act

Organized Crime Control Act

The Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 , was an Act of Congress sponsored by Democratic Senator John L. McClellan and signed into law by U.S. President Richard Nixon....

Machine Guns

A machine gun is defined as a weapon which shoots "automatically

Automatic firearm

An automatic firearm is a firearm that loads another round mechanically after the first round has been fired.The term can be used to refer to semi-automatic firearms, which fire one shot per single pull of the trigger , or fully automatic firearms, which will continue to load and fire ammunition...

more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger." Additionally, the frame or receiver of a machine gun, and any combination of parts intended to make a machine gun is legally equivalent to a complete machine gun.

For example, per the ATF, "A Glock conversion switch is a part designed and intended for use in converting a semiautomatic Glock pistol

Glock pistol

The Glock pistol, sometimes referred to by the manufacturer as Glock "Safe Action" Pistol, is a series of semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Glock Ges.m.b.H., located in Deutsch-Wagram, Austria. The company's founder, engineer Gaston Glock, had no experience with firearm design or...

into a machinegun; therefore, it is a “machinegun” as defined in 26 U.S.C. 5845(b)."

Short-Barreled Shotguns

A Short-Barreled Shotgun (SBS) is defined as: a shotgun

Shotgun

A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...

having a barrel

Gun barrel

A gun barrel is the tube, usually metal, through which a controlled explosion or rapid expansion of gases are released in order to propel a projectile out of the end at a high velocity....

or barrels of less than 18 inches in length; a weapon made from a shotgun if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length;

It must be intended to be fired from the shoulder and fire one shell of ball shot or one projectile at a time.

Short-Barreled Rifles

A Short-Barreled Rifle (SBR) is defined as: a rifle

Rifle

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

having a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length; a weapon made from a rifle if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length;

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder and fire one bullet at a time through a rifled barrel. An SBR may or may not retain a shoulder stock after modification.

ATF regards pistols with shoulder stocks as redesigned to be fired from the shoulder. Modern pistols with shoulder stocks and with barrels less than 16 inches (or overall length under 26 inches) are NFA short barrelled rifles. ATF has removed certain stocked handguns (eg, original Mauser C96 and Luger) from the NFA as collector's items (Curios or Relics List); ATF treats them as pistols under the GCA. Queries on the Curio or Relic status of an NFA firearm may be directed to the ATF FTB.

Destructive Devices

There are two categories of Destructive Devices (DDs):
Explosive ordnance : Any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas, including bombs, grenades, rockets, missiles, mines and similar devices (e.g. grenade launchers, rocket launchers). Parts intended for making such a device are also DDs. Small rockets, with less than 4 ounces of propellant, are exempt.
Large bore firearms : Any projectile weapon with a bore diameter

Caliber

In guns including firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel in relation to the diameter of the projectile used in it....

greater than inch (50 caliber), except for shotguns "generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes".

Most commercial shotguns have a bore diameter

Caliber

In guns including firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel in relation to the diameter of the projectile used in it....

greater than inch, but are exempt due to their "sporting purpose"; however, both the Street Sweeper and USAS-12 shotguns (designed for military or police use) were reclassified as DDs when the ATF determined they were combat shotgun

Combat shotgun

A combat shotgun is a shotgun that is intended for use in an offensive role, typically by a military force. The earliest shotguns specifically designed for combat were the trench guns or trench shotguns issued in World War I...

s not "generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes".

Devices which are not intended or not likely to be used as a weapon are also exempt. Examples of non-weapon large bore firearms

Firearm (tool)

A firearm can be used primarily as a tool, instead of as a weapon, to project either single or multiple objects at high velocity through a controlled explosion. The firing is achieved by the gases produced through rapid, confined burning of a propellant. This process of rapid burning is technically...

include:

Line-throwing devices for marine rescue, such as lyle gun
Lyle gun
Line-throwing guns are most often referred to as Lyle Guns, after their inventor David A. Lyle. They were used from the late 19th century to 1952, when they were replaced by rockets for throwing lines.-History:...

s and rockets for breeches buoy
Breeches buoy
A breeches buoy is a crude rope-based rescue device used to extract people from wrecked vessels, or to transfer people from one location to another in situations of danger. The device resembles a round emergency personal flotation device with a leg harness attached...

s.
Civilian flare gun
Flare gun
A flare gun is a firearm that launches flares. It is typically used for signalling, as distress signalling, at sea or from the ground to aircraft...

s, which fire 37 mm flare
37 mm flare
The 37 mm flare caliber is the specification for a civilian legal variant of the US military's 40 mm grenade system. In contrast to the military 40mm systems, which are rifled and therefore would fall under the NFA, 37mm systems are typically not rifled....

caliber (1.46 inch) non-weapon rounds.

Examples of non-weapon explosive ordnance include:

Fireworks
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...

Flare launchers are normally exempt as they are signalling devices, not weapons; however, possession of a flare launcher and anti-personnel ammunition for it puts it in the DD category as it is then considered to be a weapon.

Silencers

A silencer (muffler or suppressor) is defined as "any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination of parts ... intended for use in assembling or fabricating a firearm silencer."

Any Other Weapon

"Any other weapon" is a "catch-all" category. An AOW as defined as "any weapon or device capable of being concealed on the person from which a shot can be discharged through the energy of an explosive," other than a handgun with a rifled barrel. This umbrella definition includes many improvised firearms ("zip guns") and disguised firearms. Examples include wallet gun

Wallet gun

A wallet gun is a concealed firearm. It is a small handgun covered in leather or cloth in a wallet shape with openings for the barrel and trigger to disguise it as a wallet .-External links:*...

s, cane gun

Cane gun

A cane gun is a walking cane with a hidden gun built into it. Cane guns were used as last-resort emergency weapons. Cane guns now are very rare to find and are mostly in the hands of private collectors and museums...

s, knife guns and pen guns.

AOW is a complex and often misunderstood category of NFA firearms. Less obvious examples of AOW devices include:
Short-barreled (<18") shotguns manufactured without a shoulder stock : They are smooth-bore handguns which fire shot shells, not shotguns, which must be designed to be fired from the shoulder.
Pistols with a second vertical grip : Many pistols feature a rail below the barrel, commonly used to mount a laser or flashlight. Attaching a vertical grip to this rail constitutes the manufacturing of an AOW firearm, as it is "no longer designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand." It is therefore illegal to place an aftermarket foregrip on any pistol without first registering it as an AOW and paying the $200 "making tax". Failure to do so is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

And folding stock guns with barrels between 12 and 18 inches (e.g., the Marble Game Getter

Marble Game Getter

The Marble Game Getter is a light, double-barrel , combination gun manufactured by the Marble's Arms & Manufacturing Company in Gladstone, Michigan....

, an early 20th century sporting gun common before the NFA).

Antique firearms

Antique firearms are excluded from the destructive devices category if they are "not likely to be used as a weapon." They must have been manufactured before 1898 and may not use conventional ammunition. For example, muzzle loaded matchlock and flintlock muskets with bores larger than .50 inch are not NFA firearms.

Restrictions

Numerous federal restrictions are imposed on the ownership of NFA firearms, including required registration with the ATF, an extensive background check

Background check

A background check or background investigation is the process of looking up and compiling criminal records, commercial records and financial records of an individual....

, and a $200 tax on each purchase, transfer or manufacture of an NFA firearm.

Any violation of the NFA is a felony punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and up to 10 years in prison, and any firearm involved is forfeit.

Silencers and machine guns are the most heavily regulated.

AOW weapons are less restricted. The transfer tax for an AOW is just $5.

State laws on NFA firearms

Many states, such as New York and California, have provisions in their state laws that prohibit ownership of Title II weapons and devices. Most states allow legal ownership if the owner has complied with the federal registration and taxation requirements. A few states only allow possession of NFA firearms on the federal Curios and Relics list, again only if the owner has complied with federal requirements.