The NFA marked a major change from primarily state and local weapons regulation to a durable federal system focused on particular firearm types.
Congress used the taxing power
The original NFA imposed taxes on making and transferring covered firearms and occupational taxes on businesses dealing in them, while also requiring registration.
The target was a limited class of weapons
ATF’s history identifies machineguns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, silencers and certain “any other weapons” as central categories in the original law.
Constitutional problems led to 1968 amendments
After Haynes v. United States, Congress amended the NFA in 1968 to address self-incrimination problems associated with requiring unlawful possessors to register.
The NFA still operates today
The law, now codified in the Internal Revenue Code, remains a separate federal regime alongside the Gun Control Act.
Where this fits in the larger timeline
This event is part of the History of Gun Laws in America series. Federal firearm law developed incrementally through constitutional amendments, taxation and commerce statutes, criminal prohibitions, background-check legislation and modern Second Amendment decisions.