Remove excessive restrictions on features that do not materially affect the inherent lethality of firearms. This proposal includes deregulation of features such as the presence of a stock or shoulder able brace, number of grips, and, most particularly, barrel length. Each of these features serves as a basis for imposing additional, costly, hardships on Americans who attempt to exercise a specifically enumerated constitutional right—including (a) payment of a substantial stamp tax, and (b) restrictions on free travel between and among the states without permission of the federal government. If subject to the same scrutiny as the first amendment, each of these current additional restraints would fail as under inclusive: (1) the inherent lethality of a firearm is driven wholly by a projectile leaving a firearm and the actions of the person holding or operating the firearm regardless of these features; and (2) Multiple variations of firearms exist, permitting lawful transfer and sale of “pistols” that shoot the same caliber projectile as legal “rifles” without such restrictions. As a result, American citizens face arbitrary and onerous burdens to select a firearm that appropriately suits their needs and or body size.
This proposal specifically contemplates removal of “short barreled rifles” from the NFA and proposes that they be subject only to the same restrictions as transactions with those weapons currently defined by law as a “rifle.”