The 30-Day Window in 1968 That Still Decides What a War Trophy Is Worth

For 30 days in 1968, from November 2 through December 1, anyone holding an unregistered machine gun could put it on the federal registry, and the law barred using that paperwork as evidence against them in a criminal case over past or concurrent violations. War souvenirs were part of that deal. The window closed and has never reopened, which is why two identical machine guns from the same war can sit on opposite sides of the law today: one a registered, transferable collectible, the other contraband that no one can legally register, sell or buy.

A Supreme Court loss that forced a do-over

The Justice Department's Inspector General describes the National Firearms Act of 1934 as an effort to limit machine guns and similar weapons used by Prohibition-era criminals. It relied on registration and a $200 tax that ATF's NFA Handbook says was considered quite severe at the time.

In 1968 the Supreme Court decided Haynes v. United States. As ATF summarizes it, a person prosecuted for possessing an unregistered NFA weapon had a valid defense, because forcing that person to register would have violated the privilege against self-incrimination. Congress answered with Title II of the Gun Control Act, approved October 22, 1968, which dropped the duty to register unregistered weapons and barred using registration information as evidence against the registrant.

The trade-off was one last chance. Section 207(b) of the act, printed in the notes to 26 U.S.C. 5801, told anyone holding an unregistered NFA firearm to register it "within the thirty days immediately following the effective date," the first day of the month after enactment. The information could not "be used, directly or indirectly, as evidence against such person in any criminal proceeding with respect to a prior or concurrent violation of law."

A federal appeals court, in Cox v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (5th Cir. 1978), put that window at November 2 through December 1, 1968. Some later accounts start it on November 1. The form itself sides with the court.

Form 4467 and the war trophies

Registration ran through the Internal Revenue Service on IRS Form 4467, according to a 2017 Small Arms Review legal column by attorneys Teresa Ficaretta and Johanna Reeves. Researcher Eric M. Larson, writing in Small Arms Review in 2000, reproduced the form's warning that it "cannot be accepted for registration of firearm except when received by Director during the time period November 2, 1968, through December 1, 1968."

Ficaretta and Reeves report that the IRS took late registrations from people who could show they had been out of the country and unaware of the window or unable to register. They put the total at over 60,000 firearms.

War souvenirs were part of that count. A 1979 ATF fact sheet notes that the amnesty included deactivated war trophies, or DEWATs. Ficaretta and Reeves add that ATF treats a DEWAT from the earlier 1945 to 1958 program that later changed hands as lawfully registered only if it was registered again in 1968.

A bring-back paper answers a different question: it helps prove where a gun came from, while a 1968 registration decides whether anyone may legally own it today.

1986: the year the supply froze

The amnesty would be a footnote without 1986. The Firearm Owners' Protection Act added 18 U.S.C. 922(o), which makes it "unlawful for any person to transfer or possess a machinegun," except for government use and for a machine gun "lawfully possessed before" the subsection took effect on May 19, 1986. Cornell's Legal Information Institute notes the provision is commonly known as the Hughes Amendment. It remains in force; the Fourth Circuit upheld it in January 2026, and the Supreme Court petition in that case, Fisher v. United States, was pending in late September.

Put the two rules together. New machine guns cannot enter civilian hands, and old unregistered ones cannot be registered. Chapter 3 of the NFA Handbook is blunt: firearms not lawfully registered "may not be registered and legitimized by their possessors. They are contraband and unlawful to possess."

A machine gun registered during the amnesty sits inside that closed pool. It was lawfully possessed before May 19, 1986, so it fits 922(o)'s exception and can change hands, with ATF approving each transfer in advance. The unregistered twin sits outside, permanently.

The registry that has to vouch for it

A registered gun is only as good as the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, the central registry required by 26 U.S.C. 5841. The same section tells the possessor to "retain proof of registration." That matters, because the registry has a documented history of errors.

Larson tracked the amnesty numbers themselves: approximately 65,000 registrations in 1968, then 57,223 in ATF's 1996 figures and 57,238 in data ATF gave the Treasury Inspector General as of July 31, 1998. He reports that Treasury Inspector General audits in late 1998 each found NFRTR data "may not be accurate or reliable."

In early 1996 the Justice Department's Criminal Division advised prosecutors that remarks made at an ATF training session by the chief of the National Firearms Branch, about an alleged 50 percent error rate, had to be disclosed in newly filed, affected NFA cases until the registry was revamped.

The Justice Department's Inspector General returned to the subject in June 2007 (report I-2007-006). It found management and technical deficiencies that contributed to inaccuracies. In its survey, 46.5 percent of ATF inspectors said they found discrepancies between the NFRTR and a licensee's inventory always or most of the time, and 44.4 percent said registry errors caused them that often. The same report found no case of a registry error leading to an inappropriate seizure or criminal consequences. Neither finding can tell a family whether one particular 1968 registration survived intact.

Proving a 1968 registration today

ATF will not confirm registration status by phone. Its handbook says the person must verify identity in writing, and if the gun is registered to that person, the NFA Branch will say so.

When the registry comes up empty, paper carries the weight. The 2007 report states that if an owner can produce the registration paperwork, "ATF assumes the error is in the NFRTR and fixes it in the database." Larson described mixed results in estates as of 2000: ATF added some guns after heirs presented valid paperwork, while others were apparently confiscated despite circumstantial evidence of registration.

Why the window never reopened

The 1968 act left the door unlocked. Section 207(d) authorized the Secretary of the Treasury, after notice in the Federal Register, to set further periods of amnesty and immunity of up to 90 days each, "as the Secretary determines will contribute to the purposes of this title." Under 26 U.S.C. 7801(a)(2), "Secretary" in the NFA chapter now means the Attorney General.

ATF's NFA Handbook, in its April 2009 revision, says that to date no additional amnesty periods have been declared, and that requests have been denied principally because they could jeopardize pending investigations and prosecutions of NFA violations. None has been announced in the Federal Register since. Larson reported that on November 19, 1999, ATF gave the House Committee on Government Reform a list of ten "disadvantages" of an amnesty.

Sen. Tom Cotton introduced the Veterans' Heritage Firearms Act as S. 670 in 2015 and as S. 1435 in 2017. The 2017 text would have opened a 180-day window for veterans and certain relatives to register firearms acquired before October 31, 1968, while the veteran was stationed outside the continental United States. NRA-ILA backed it, arguing that most veterans were unaware of the 1968 window or learned of it too late. Both bills were referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the status records show no further action.

Nothing since has reopened the door for private owners. A July 2026 ATF proposed rule would let qualified manufacturers register NFA firearms that fall out of government contracts; it does not reach private possessors. Seventeen state attorneys general filed comments opposing it, and in late September it was still a proposal. A 2025 law cut the transfer tax, starting in 2026, to $0 for NFA firearms other than machine guns and destructive devices; under 26 U.S.C. 5811, machine guns stay at $200. None of these sources attempts to count the unregistered trophies still in closets.

Found one in the family? Stop here

A family clearing out a house finds a submachine gun wrapped in a blanket, with a good story and no paper. Every instinct says to take it somewhere and ask. Resist it.

1. Don't handle it. ATF's 1979 guidance was plain: "Don't handle the weapon. It may be dangerous." Leave it where it is.
2. Contact ATF. The same fact sheet says to contact ATF on finding an NFA weapon, and not to keep one that isn't registered to you. ATF's guidance on decedents' estates says unregistered NFA firearms are contraband the estate cannot register, and that the executor should contact the local ATF office to arrange abandonment.
3. Don't transport it. A trip to an appraiser, dealer or show adds exposure, and interstate transport is a separate violation.
4. Don't sell it, give it away or let anyone "take it off your hands." Whoever receives it breaks the same law, and no dealer can lawfully take it.
5. Don't try to solve it with tools. The handbook's definition of a machine gun includes the receiver by itself, and this guide gives no modification instructions.
6. Look for paper. Check files for a Form 4467, other IRS or ATF forms, or letters naming a serial number, and tell ATF what you find.

Abandonment ends the family's ownership, which stings. The alternative, per ATF's estate guidance, is a gun subject to seizure and forfeiture. Keep what can be kept: the story, the photographs, the letters and the service records. For the rest of the estate, see our guide to selling an inherited gun collection.

How registered machine guns actually change hands

Registered machine guns move through paperwork, not handshakes. A transfer between non-licensees uses ATF Form 4, which, per the full NFA Handbook, "must be approved by ATF before the transfer may be made," and the machine gun transfer tax is still $200. A non-licensed owner taking one across state lines needs authorization under 18 U.S.C. 922(a)(4); a May 2026 ATF proposal would drop advance approval for trips of up to 365 days, but it was not final in late September.

Curio-and-relic status changes none of that. A Rock Island Auction Company listing for a fully transferable Erma MP 40 notes that such C&R weapons "are still subject to" federal firearms law and the NFA regulations; our C&R license guide makes the same point. That listing, from the company's May 2024 sale, carried an estimate of $25,000 to $37,500. An estimate is not a price realized, but it shows what registration makes possible.

What this means at the show table

A "war trophy machine gun" on a public table should raise questions before it raises your pulse. Our guide to WWII guns you might see at a show already warns that fully automatic arms are far less likely to be ordinary table merchandise. In private hands, they are legal only if registered, and even a registered one cannot go home with you that day, because ATF approves the transfer first. A seller offering cash-and-carry is describing a federal crime, whatever the story.

1. What is it registered as, and to whom? "War trophy" is a story, not a legal status.
2. Can you see the registration document? Match the serial number to the gun, not to the seller's summary.
3. How would the transfer happen? The right answer involves an ATF Form 4 and waiting for approval.
4. Treat "papers to follow," "grandfathered" and "amnesty gun, trust me" as no paper at all.
5. If any answer wobbles, walk. There is nothing here to negotiate.

Never buy on a story. For everything else, our used gun show buying guide covers the ordinary inspection, and the national gun show calendar lists upcoming shows.