Texas Bill to Restore Legal Status to Short Barreled Firearms

 AR15 pistol with 16 inch barrel.

In Texas statutes, Section 46.05(a) lists some items which are forbidden to knowingly possess, manufacture, repair or sell. The statute includes short barreled firearms, which have been heavily regulated by the federal government since 1934. SB1596 strikes short barreled firearms from the list of prohibited items. From SB1596:

any of the following items, unless the item is registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms andExplosives or otherwise not subject to that registration requirement or unless the item is classified as a curio or relic by the United States Department of Justice:

(A)  an explosive weapon; or 

(B) a machine gun; [or

(C)  a short-barrel firearm;

Short barreled firearms were in common use before 1934. Most people will immediately see the silliness of this rule. Handguns are protected by the Second Amendment. Handguns are short barreled firearms. 

How is it handguns are not regulated by the law regulating short barreled rifles and shot guns?

The answer goes back to 1934. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was President. He had appointed Montana Senator Thomas Walsh as Attorney General. Senator Walsh had uncovered the Teapot Dome Scandal. Senator Walsh died on a train en route to DC. Then President Roosevelt appointed Homer Cummings, from Connecticut, as Attorney General.

Cummings was the man who came up with the scheme to pack the Supreme Court. Cummings, essentially, created the FBI.  Cummings was a gun control advocate. Cummings put forward the idea to circumvent the Second Amendment by using the taxing power of the federal government to regulate the ownership and possession of firearms, especially handguns.

Originally, the 1934 bill required all handguns to be registered and licensed by the federal government. Firearms enthusiasts rebelled against the idea. The NRA agreed to a compromise: allow sawed off shotguns, machine guns, and silencers to be banned by extortionist taxes, but remove handguns from the bill. At the time, there were few machineguns or silencers in private hands. The taxes imposed on silencers, short barreled shotguns and short barreled rifles were 10-20 times the cost of the items, about six months worth of wages. The NFA was an effective ban on formerly legal items, using federal taxes as the tool.

In a curious twist, short barreled rifles, were never meant to be included by the Cummings Department of Justice. They were included in the bill at the insistence of Harold Knutson, a representative from Minnesota on the Ways and Means committee. Knutson’s comments did not make any sense, but the DOJ agreed to add short barreled rifles to the bill.

FDR went on to be elected to four terms. He appointed numerous federal judges, transforming the federal court system into a Progressive court system. Progressive judges were more interested in finding ways to subvert Constitution limits than in enforcing the Constitution. Multiple states endorsed the federal prohibitions, under the realization of how weak the federal “ban through taxes” was under the Constitution. Texas was one of those states. The Supreme Court has since ruled taxes, aimed at an enumerated right, protected by in the Bill of Rights, are not an allowed work-around.

Why SB1596 is relevant today

Inflation wore away the extortionist taxes imposed by AG Cummings 1934 bill. More people experienced using silencers and short barreled firearms. They saw the obvious stupidity of the 1934 law.  Texas lawmakers removed the state prohibition on silencers. Now Texas lawmakers are moving to do the same with short barreled firearms. The Texas bill will not effect the federal law, except to showcase the stupidity of the federal regulation.  Ridicule is a powerful political tool. The fundamental assumption behind the 1934 law is: Guns are bad. More guns are worse. It is a false assumption.

©2025 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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