The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - 1986 FOPA Hughes amendment vote footage located

**44 AMP** · November 23, 2010, 01:25 PM

While I cannot provide links, I assume the story to be true.

For many years some folks have been claiming that the Income tax was not properly passed, and therefore, not legal. Mostly they wind up in jail. The story is that at one time (maybe in the late 70's or 80's) one of the legal challenges made its way through the courts.

The claim was upheld, in that the court agreed that the tax was not properly passed (it was two different versions of the amendment that got voted on, neither one passed, but combined they did).

HOWEVER, the court ruled that while the tax had not been properly passed, since we had been paying it for so many decades, it now stood as law, and we must continue to pay it.

This I think will be the same thing, generally. Even if we have concrete proof that proper procedure was not followed, the law will not be changed. FA owners are a very small minority, and even if you add in everyone who would like to have a full auto, it still adds up to very few people, compared to the shooting public, and even less to the general population.

Adding into that is the common prejudice against machine guns, and the only hope of getting the law changed is slim and none, and slim is currently out of town.

Doesn't mean its not worth a shot though. The only down side is that when we focus attention on machine guns, we risk further restrictions if our case loses. And reality matters little when it comes to that. Public opinion (misinformed, at best) and legislators opinions are what has carried the day, not ours, so far.

November 23, 2010, 01:25 PM	#8
44 AMP Staff Join Date: March 11, 2006 Location: Upper US Posts: 28,839	Same as the Income Tax.... While I cannot provide links, I assume the story to be true. For many years some folks have been claiming that the Income tax was not properly passed, and therefore, not legal. Mostly they wind up in jail. The story is that at one time (maybe in the late 70's or 80's) one of the legal challenges made its way through the courts. The claim was upheld, in that the court agreed that the tax was not properly passed (it was two different versions of the amendment that got voted on, neither one passed, but combined they did). HOWEVER, the court ruled that while the tax had not been properly passed, since we had been paying it for so many decades, it now stood as law, and we must continue to pay it. This I think will be the same thing, generally. Even if we have concrete proof that proper procedure was not followed, the law will not be changed. FA owners are a very small minority, and even if you add in everyone who would like to have a full auto, it still adds up to very few people, compared to the shooting public, and even less to the general population. Adding into that is the common prejudice against machine guns, and the only hope of getting the law changed is slim and none, and slim is currently out of town. Doesn't mean its not worth a shot though. The only down side is that when we focus attention on machine guns, we risk further restrictions if our case loses. And reality matters little when it comes to that. Public opinion (misinformed, at best) and legislators opinions are what has carried the day, not ours, so far. __________________ All else being equal (and it almost never is) bigger bullets tend to work better.