Good day all. Once upon a time, the 2nd Amendment meant what it said. You could walk into a store, but any sort of gun and walk right out. Then came the Democrats and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He signed a blatantly unconstitutional law called the National Firearms Act.
Among the new restrictions, you had to pay a $200 tax on machine guns. Back when the act was passed, that tax easily doubled or more the cost of a machine gun for a citizen. You also had to be fingerprinted and basically beg for permission to exercise your rights.
Then in the 1980’s the Hughes Amendment was passed and it blocked the sale of any machine gun not already in private hands. This promptly caused prices of automatic weapons to skyrocket. Now West Virginia has found a loophole in the National Firearms act and the Hughes Amendment that will allow people to buy fully automatic weapons. Here are the details from Yahoo News:
As we enter the home stretch of the West Virginia Legislature, two senators have introduced a bill that would allow the state to sell firearms to its citizens.
Now you may be wondering how a state could sell brand new automatic weapons to the average citizen. After all, isn’t the NFA a federal law? Doesn’t the Supremacy clause kick in? In this case, not exactly.
Under a new bill filed on Monday by Senators Chris Rose (R-Monongalia) and Zack Maynard (R-Lincoln), West Virginia would create the Office of Public Defense (OPD) within the West Virginia State Police, which would oversee the transfer of machine guns to anyone who is able to purchase and possess firearms within West Virginia.
And that is pretty much everyone who isn’t a felon.
Firearms that would be distributed under the bill are listed to be “the same as, or of like kind to, those machineguns currently in use by law enforcement or the United States Armed Forces” and include, but are not limited to:
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- AR-15/M16-platform firearms
- M249-type firearms
- MP5-type firearms
So you can buy a brand new M16 or M4 rifle, an MP5 submachine gun or a belt fed squad automatic weapon? And the cost will only be the “Over the counter” price and not some obscene collectors markup?
So, how would this work? Somehow I don’t think I’ll just be heading in to Bob’s Bait, Tackle and Machine Gun Emporium and walking out with a Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun.
Under the bill, qualifying citizens would be able to purchase machine guns at various distribution stations around the state, including at every State Police Troop Headquarters throughout the state, of which there are nine.
Well, that is going to be a cost to the taxpayers. It means that you will have police officers having to handle orders and paperwork.
Firearms sold by the state in this manner will have a $250 surcharge added onto the price of the firearm, according to the bill. This charge will go toward the Public Defense Fund, another entity created by the bill that would fund the OPD’s operations. Additional surcharges, up to $50, may also be added if deemed necessary to offset operational costs.
Well, OK, that does seem fair. You are paying for the services rendered that are beyond the normal scope of state law enforcement. Considering what a new automatic weapon costs, an extra $250 seems like a small price to pay, especially since the firearm will be brand new and not require getting a second mortgage on the house. (The ammo costs will take care of that issue)
The bill also outlines methods for transferring machine guns between citizens. Under the bill, if anyone who receives a machine gun from the state wishes to transfer it to someone else, they must go to an OPD location and relinquish the firearm to the state first. The person acquiring the firearm would then pay a fee of $275 to receive the firearm.
So a basic transfer fee. You pay something like that if you go through an FFL for a private sale and they run the background checks for you.
Now West Virginia is the first state to come up with this plan. They aren’t the only one looking at it. Kentucky is also working an an identical bill. Here are those details from Ammoland:
In a decisive move that reaffirms Kentucky’s proud heritage as a constitutional carry state and a bulwark for unalienable rights, Rep. TJ Roberts (R-Burlington) introduced House Bill 749 on February 25, 2026. This landmark legislation establishes an Office of Public Defense within the Kentucky State Police, tasked with acquiring and transferring modern, select-fire machine guns directly to law-abiding citizens. HB 749 is nothing short of revolutionary: it weaponizes a clear federal exemption to dismantle the artificial, unconstitutional barriers erected by the 1986 Hughes Amendment, restoring to Kentuckians the very arms the Founding Fathers intended for a well-regulated militia and the security of a free state.
Rep. Roberts has long argued that law-abiding citizens deserve parity with the very tools carried by law enforcement and the military.
“Federal law explicitly allows states to sell machine guns to their citizens,” Roberts declared upon filing the measure. His bill does exactly that, sidestepping the Hughes Amendment’s post-1986 registration ban through 18 U.S.C. § 922(o)(2)(A), which carves out transfers “to or by” a state or under its authority.
That isn’t a loophole, it’s a gaping hole in the National Firearms Act and the Hughes Amendment. How they managed to let that one slip past is beyond me. What is really annoying is that it’s taken 40+ years for someone to notice this and create a bill to slip past the NFA and Hughes Amendment.
For decades, the Hughes Amendment, rammed through on a disputed voice vote in 1986, has treated American citizens as second-class subjects, denying them the rapid-fire capability that criminals and terrorists obtain illegally with ease.
Pre-1986 machine guns are collector items; post-1986 models manufactured for civilians have been verboten. HB 749 flips that script. By acting “by” the state, Kentucky nullifies the practical effect of the ban for its residents while remaining fully compliant with federal statute.
Federal courts have never invalidated properly structured state transfer programs under this exemption, and with Bruen’s history-and-tradition test now the law of the land, machine guns invented in 1718 and used by American militias for centuries sail through constitutional scrutiny.
Oh no it won’t. Without question, someone is going to take this to court and fight it. I suspect that the first judges will be the usual COB judges who will rule against the Constitution. Then it will be appealed and depending on the court, it will either be upheld or overturned and then it’s off to the races and the Supreme Court.
If SCOTUS actually reads the laws and the Constitution, (Something that Alito and Thomas do, Roberts, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett do more often then not, and Sotomayor, Kagan and the DEI justice Brown Jackson never do), then the law will be upheld. At that point you will see a lot of states setting this up. You will also see the Democrat states go absolutely apeshit. Needless to say, you won’t see states like Massachusetts, Washington State or New York setting something like this up.
Critics from the gun-control lobby will predictably screech about “arming the streets” and “blood in the holler.” Their hysteria collapses under basic facts.
Since when have Progressives, Liberals, Democrats and Communists ever let the facts get in the way of their beliefs?
These sales require the same rigorous background checks as every lawful firearm purchase.
So basically, you will have to fill out the ATF’s Form 4473. Annoying as that is, as long as I don’t have to provide fingerprints and all the other drek you have to go through to purchase a pre-ban automatic weapon, I can live with it.
Other states are looking at these bills and I’m thinking I should see about getting this going for New Hampshire. Normally I would contact my representative, but, sadly, that would be a Democrat Communist and all they care about is suppressing the 2nd Amendment, New Hampshire’s Article 2 and stealing as much money from the taxpayers of the state as they can. (Instituting an income tax)
So, what do you think? Do you like the idea of these bills? If they pass and are upheld by the courts, it will basically finish off the NFA and the Hughes Amendment once and for all. I think this is a great idea.
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