Political Memes

This was literally the basis of the National Firearms Act, which is a federal gun law we very much already have and have done for a long time. It was originally enacted in the 1930's with the express purpose of preventing the ~~blacks~~ poors from achieving arms parity with which to defend themselves from ~~whites~~ the rich, and had a specific focus on "concealable" arms which could conceivably be used to take out high profile political targets. Which is something that was at the forefront of every seedy politician's mind in the era coming right out of Prohibition and leading into the Great Depression, I'm sure. Boy, that sounds eerily familiar.

The NFA bans a wide swath of arms and arms adjacent things including short barreled rifles and shotguns, fully automatic guns, and silencers/suppressors.

Oh, wait. Did I say "banned?" It actually just slaps a mandatory $200 federal tax on them with a ton of paperwork, with failure to comply under penalty of the ATF kicking in your door and shooting your dog. Note that in the 1930's $200 was an exorbitant amount of money that would be absolutely unattainable for the working classes simply to afford a shooty toy, but was easily within reach of the robber barons of the time. Oh, and the police and military also got a full exception. Of course. For reference, $200 in 1934 dollars (when this was passed) is equivalent to $4,711.40 today. And for further perspective, a nice shotgun in 1935 would cost you around $40 in the currency of that time.

"Sure, boy, you can own that gun. All you have to do is file all this extra paperwork and pay us five times more than what it's worth in taxes."

Related fun fact: The original incarnation of the NFA was originally intended to apply to all handguns. Think about that one for a minute.

(Edit: This was meant as an addition, not a correction.)