Transcription
Breaking news. West Virginia legislators have just introduced a GOA drafted bill that would sell machine guns to law-abiding citizens. You heard that right. Selling machine guns to citizens. And we're doing it using an exemption in the 1986 Hughes amendment that GOA uncovered. Now, this could raise massive revenue to help abolish the state's income tax while arming Americans against tyranny. Stick around as I walk you through this exemption and how you can push your state to do the same. I am Ben and you're watching the Minute Man Moment.
Before we get into the video, I wanted to take a second to talk to you about GEAR. Gun Empowerment and Adventure Recreation. GOA's first overlanding event. Come out to the Meris Adventure Park in Texas, 8,000 acres of trails spread across the Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the United States. GEAR brings together the firearms and overlanding community for 3 days of hands-on training, live-fire experiences, trail runs, and family adventure. GEAR takes place April 24th to 26th in Claude, Texas. Get your tickets now at gunowners.org/gear.
Okay, now back to the video. If you're a gun owner sick of the NFA and the ATF's tyrannical grip on our rights, listen up. We've got some breaking news right now. As of the release of this video, legislators in West Virginia are introducing a GOA drafted bill to open state-run machine gun distribution centers. You heard that right. These state-run centers will sell full-auto firearms to ordinary Americans like you and me. No more artificially inflated prices for pre-86 relics. And it's all thanks to a massive exemption in the Hughes amendment that we at GOA dug up and turned into a roadmap to shred the post-86 machine gun ban. And while West Virginia is the first state to introduce this legislation, for now, this isn't something exclusive to West Virginia. If you're in Texas, Missouri, Idaho, Arkansas, Montana, or anywhere else that is pro-gun, this can be a playbook for your state, too. Stick around because we're going to break it down, show you why it's legal, and why we're starting this in West Virginia.
Here's the thing. States can and should sell machine guns to the general public. To be completely honest, this is what our founding fathers envisioned. The Second Amendment's prefatory clause lays it out clearly: "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state." In the landmark case DC v. Heller, the Supreme Court affirmed that the Second Amendment rights are about repelling invasions, ditching standing armies, and resisting tyranny. In 1788, Tench Coxe, a member of George Washington's cabinet, explained that "Congress has no power to disarm the militia. Swords and every other terrible implement of the soldier are the birthright of an American." And over a century later, Henry Campbell Black reiterated that "the arms here meant in the Second Amendment are those of a soldier. The citizen has at all times the right to keep arms of modern warfare." Now, this obviously includes machine guns. They are essential to keep parity with the feds, stop overreach by the government, and to repel any foreign invading armies.
History backs this up, too. During the colonial era, Virginia and Massachusetts supplied guns to poor militiamen who couldn't afford them. In the Revolution, Congress built factories, bought arms abroad, and armed the people. A year after enacting the Second Amendment, Congress passed the Militia Act of 1792, which required military-aged men to not only possess military firearms, but also the ammunition for them. During the War of 1812, states sold military-grade rifles to citizens. After the Civil War, the government auctioned surplus arms at dirt-cheap prices to vets and civilians. The country was a wash with military pistols and rifles of the most modern design. Fast forward to 1903. Teddy Roosevelt pushed the Civilian Marksmanship Program, selling Army rifles directly to folks by mail. And according to Dave Copel, during World War II, the first truly modern war fought with the same type of arms in use today, armed citizens were considered extremely important. After Pearl Harbor, the unorganized militia was called into action. Nazi submarines were constantly seen and fought off the East Coast. On the West Coast, the Japanese seized several Alaskan islands, and military strategists wondered if the Japanese might follow up by invading the Alaska mainland, Hawaii, or California. Hawaii's governor summoned citizens to man checkpoints and patrol beach areas. Maryland's governor called on the Maryland Minute, consisting of members of rotten gun clubs, trap shooting clubs, and similar organizations. Gun owners in Virginia were summoned into home service. Americans everywhere armed themselves in case of invasion. After the National Guard was federalized for overseas service, the unorganized militia proved to be a successful substitute for the National Guard. According to a Department of War study, militiamen providing their own guns were trained in patrolling, roadblock techniques, and guerrilla warfare. From 1996 to 2019 alone, over 700,000 surplus firearms were transferred to the public. Government arming citizens is as American as it gets.
Unfortunately, the National Firearms Act of 1934 strictly controls the making, transfer, and possession of machine guns through an unconstitutional taxation and registration scheme. It's administered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. We've always said that the ATF really should be a convenience store. So, we're turning that into a reality. Since 1986, federal law has restricted the transfer and possession of post-86 machine guns, generally placing these firearms off-limits to private citizens while exempting government use. Consequently, individual transferable pre-86 machine guns have skyrocketed in value, as there's no shortage of private demand. If ordinary Americans could freely and legally obtain machine guns, old or new, at reasonable prices, they overwhelmingly would.
But here's the key. The Hughes amendment restriction on post-86 machine guns does not apply with respect to a transfer to or by or possession by or under the authority of the United States or any department or agency thereof or a state or a department, agency, or political subdivision thereof. On the statute's face, then, a state government may lawfully transfer, sell, give, loan, etc., machine guns to ordinary citizens, which those citizens may then lawfully possess so long as the transfer is made by the state government. In fact, the federal government recently confirmed this reading of the statute. In a court filing, ATF explained that the "transfer by" language means that even if forced-reach triggers (FRTs) were in fact machine guns, post-Cargill, section 922 expressly does not apply to a transfer to or by the United States or any department or agency thereof. The section 922 prohibition has no application to the ATF. And as DOJ's filing implicitly acknowledges, once such a transfer by the government has occurred, the public's subsequent possession of those machine guns also would be lawful because section 922, including its prohibition on possession by any person, simply does not apply. In other words, section 922's exemption follows the firearm.
You might be asking whether the Gun Control Act, which generally requires those engaged in the business of importing, manufacturing, or dealing in firearms to first become federally licensed to do so, applies to states that sell machine guns. We don't think so. In fact, two provisions of the GCA indicate that states do not need a license to sell machine guns to the general public. First, the GCA only prohibits "any person" from engaging in the business of dealing in firearms and defines "person" to mean "any individual, corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, society, or joint stock company." By the GCA's plain terms, states are not persons subject to licensing requirements. Second, the GCA provides that its provisions "shall not apply with respect to the transportation, shipment, receipt, possession, or importation of any firearm or ammunition imported for, sold, or shipped to, or issued for the use of any state or department, agency, or political subdivision thereof." Much like section 922 itself, this exception applies more broadly than to just a particular sale or transfer. It applies to the firearm itself forever. In other words, so long as it's a state that a machine gun is sold to, then the state's subsequent sale or transfer of that machine gun to a member of the public, a transfer by a state would fall under section 925's government exemption, as would the recipient's subsequent possession.
West Virginia's new GOA-drafted bill is taking advantage of section 922's government transfer exemption. The state is creating a state entity tasked with purchasing machine guns for subsequent sale to qualified members of the general public. Transfers by the state. Imagine walking into a West Virginia government building, passing a background check, and paying for a fresh M4. And it seriously benefits the residents of the state through taxes as well. West Virginia has been slashing state income taxes each year based on state revenue. Currently, legislators are aiming for a full repeal of the state income tax, and I think everyone watching can agree that if West Virginia passes this law, they're going to hit their goal even faster. West Virginia's income tax has already dropped about 27% since 2023. Now, our proposed machine gun sales would be tax-exempt under the NFA, but the sales would rake in millions nationwide from gun owners moving to West Virginia.
This is a huge victory for GOA and you, our members. We've been working to gut the NFA for decades. Last year, GOA spearheaded efforts in Congress to repeal most of the NFA's taxes. Then, we filed suit to challenge the registration requirements with our one big, beautiful lawsuit. Now, we're tackling the prohibitions on machine guns with West Virginia. If you hate the National Firearms Act, GOA is your one-stop shop. Of course, we have to give a huge thank you to the West Virginia representatives pushing this legislation. And of course, we have to give a special shout-out to Senators Chris Rose and Zack Maynard for introducing this legislation. Thanks, guys. We submitted the blueprint. And boom, the bill was introduced today. But we're not done. This will be a fight, and we're going to need your help. West Virginians, you've got to support this bill and hold the Republican supermajority legislature accountable so that it passes the legislation. In addition, everyone nationwide should be paying attention right now to what's going on in West Virginia. Let's support this legislation and make sure it passes. We at GOA won't stop until the ATF is abolished and every American can own whatever they want.
Now, thanks for watching. Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe.