The National Firearms Act ("NFA"), 73rd Congress

73rd United States Congress

The Seventy-third United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1933 to January 3, 1935, during the first two years...

, Sess. 2, ch. 757, , enacted on June 26, 1934, currently codified as amended as , is an Act of Congress

Act of Congress

An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by government with a legislature named "Congress," such as the United States Congress or the Congress of the Philippines....

 that, in general, imposes a statutory excise

Excise

Excise tax in the United States is a indirect tax on listed items. Excise taxes can be and are made by federal, state and local governments and are far from uniform throughout the United States...

 tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms

Title II weapons

Title II weapons, or NFA firearms, are certain firearms, explosive munitions, and other devices which are heavily regulated in the United States by the National Firearms Act . Any violation of the NFA is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison...

 and mandates the registration of those firearms. The Act was passed shortly after the repeal of Prohibition

Prohibition in the United States

Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...

. The NFA is also referred to as Title II

Title II weapons

Title II weapons, or NFA firearms, are certain firearms, explosive munitions, and other devices which are heavily regulated in the United States by the National Firearms Act . Any violation of the NFA is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison...

 of the Federal firearms laws. The Gun Control Act of 1968

Gun Control Act of 1968

The Gun Control Act of 1968 , by president Lyndon Johnson, is a federal law in the United States that broadly regulates the firearms industry and firearms owners...

 ("GCA") is Title I.

All transfers of ownership of registered NFA firearms must be done through the federal NFA registry.