GOP lawmaker proposes extended firearms registration for veterans

Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) has proposed legislation that would give veterans 180 days to register any firearms they acquired in the late 1960s or earlier while on active duty overseas.

The Veterans' Heritage Firearms Act, H.R. 449, is meant to give veterans another chance to register weapons they captured, bought or otherwise acquired while overseas. Veterans returning home had a 30-day period in which to register these weapons, but many did not.

Miller's bill would give them half a year to do so and allow them to escape any criminal liability they might now face if they had not registered these weapons.

To qualify for this amnesty, firearms must have been acquired before October 31, 1968. That is only part-way through the Vietnam War, which ended for the United States in 1973. The bill says the U.S. Attorney General must accept as true any affidavit or other evidence demonstrating that a firearm qualifies.

A House aide said it was common practice for veterans in that era to mail weapons home in pieces after they were bought or captured. The registration of these weapons would be recorded in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

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