May 19, 2024
1986 – The Firearm Owners Protection Act, including the ‘Hughes amendment’ – 18 US Code § 922 (o) – that bans the further production of automatic firearms that can be legally possessed by the public at large, is signed into law by President Reagan.
And was backed by the NRA IIRC..
Wasn’t ‘backed’ per se, but the NRA leadership wanted the rest of the FOPA so much they accepted what the demoncraps thought would be a poison-pill amendment. Reagan is noted to have questioned the NRA people about the ban but was told that ‘it would be taken care of later’ (yeah right).
It’s been used for political Kabuki theater ever since.