The latest amnesty is the May 19,1986 amnesty for U.S. manufacturers. A manufacturer who had a receiver or parts kit, serial numbered, by that date, and had it accompanied by the proper approved paperwork, could later complete that machine gun and market it. I am working from memory, so correct me if I am wrong. Some time ago, I visited a Class 3 manufacturer and dealer who showed me racks of receivers that had been approved under the May 19 amnesty. I don't know the exact nomenclature for the receivers he had fabricated, but they were merely sections of steel tubing with some machining cuts made that qualified them as receivers for XXX machine guns. He had hundreds of them and claimed that completing these guns would be more work than he could do in his lifetime. A man with a plan. Nice guy and a serious gunsmith. What is the gun he was building? It's too bad that he didn't seek approval on a couple of hundred NID Field Grade receivers.
It was NOT an Amnesty. Congress passed the law (on an arguably unConstitutional voice vote) to ban all future sales of Machine Guns to civilians in the USA. In the approximately 90 days between passage and President Ronald Reagan signing the law, many manufacturers produced as many receivers(the legal part that is a gun) and filed the paperwork with the ATF.
There were also a bunch of "paper" guns that didn't exist in actual metal. That is a big no-no and pity the guy who now owns one of these guns. BATFE, if they can 'prove' it was a paper gun will seize it from the current owner without payment of any kind.
In 1986 an AR-15 cost about $500 and an M-16 cost about $600(+$200 Tax Stamp). In 2010 an AR-15 can be purchased for about $500. A pre'86 papered and legal M-16 will cost you at least $12,000(+$200 Tax Stamp).....
