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I am of the opinion that the restrictions on Class III items under the jurisidiction of the ATF are unconstitutional. I have no problem with the 1934 ATF Class III act that requires a special federal tax stamp to own a Class III item, but the Post-1986 ban has only served to drive up the price of Class III items to citizens. Being a national law, I feel this violates the second ammendment.
I am interested in knowing if anyone else feels the same way.
The Class 3 restrictions do appear unconstitutional, but the restriction is mainly based on the ability of a corporation to buy and sell them not an individual, and restrictions on inter-state trade which are federal rights. The individual right to own firearms is only indirectly affected by this amendment as there is no fundamental right to SELL weapons under the 2nd Amendment. A person who owns a class III firearm in a State may in fact sell their firearm to another citizen of that State with little hassle.
The 2nd Amendment was not created so hunters could have a hobby, it was created so that the Citizens of the United States could protect themselves from the tyranny of Governments. It protected the individual's right to equip their merchant ships with cannons in its prime. This is how the United States defended itself from the British Navy since the beginning of the Revolution. A man with a machine gun could inflict a terrible cost of human lives today, however in the 18th century a single merchant ship with a single cannon could lay seige to an entire city. Despite the overwhelming power of the cannon as a purely military weapon in its capacity, the Founding Fathers still thought it wise to allow the law-abiding Citizen free right to own them. You may not like guns, but personal preference is hardly justification for legislating the actions of free citizens.
From what I understand, class 3 weapons are machine guns, right? In my opinion, it's one thing to support the second amendment for rifles, hunting, etc., or to even protect your home...but machine guns? Why the world do you need a machine gun, for god's sake?
Disclaimer: If I'm wrong about Class 3 being machine guns, please correct me, I don't know much about guns...just that I don't like them =)
