06-10-2020, 01:42 PM
Ok, quit calling your ffls, your buddies gun shops, etc. There are two things being discussed here. What is legal? And how would the atf know?
I emailed atf directly the exact thing im saying.
If i purchase a stripped lower as "other" and i build an ar rifle with a stock and a 20" barrel but then later decide i want an ar pistol and take it completely apart back to the "other" stripped lower, can i now use that same lower to make an ar pistol with a pistol brace and short barrel?
This is in reply to your recent email to the Firearms Industry Programs Branch (FIPB) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) seeking information on manufacturing a pistol utilizing a receiver which has been previously built in a rifle configuration (mounted with a shoulder stock and barrel by yourself). You wish to know if this would be lawful.
With respect to the definitions of handgun and pistol under Federal statutes and implementing regulations, you may be aware that the amended Gun Control Act of 1968,
18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(29), defines handgun as, in part, a firearm which has a short stock and is designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand .
Additionally, 27 CFR § 479.11 defines pistol to mean a weapon originally designed, made, and intended to fire a projectile (bullet) from one or more barrels when held in one hand, and having (a) a chamber(s) as an integral part(s) of, or permanently aligned with, the bore(s); and (b) a short stock designed to be gripped by one hand and at an angle to and extending below the line of the bore(s).
A "rifle" is defined as a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of an explosive in a fixed metallic cartridge to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger (18 U.S.C. § 921 (a)(7))
The term "short barreled rifle" means a rifle having one or more barrels less than sixteen inches in length (26 U.S.C. § 5845(a)(3)).
The term "weapon made from a rifle" means a weapon made from a rifle which as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length (5845(a)(4).
Since the firearm you propose to make was originally a rifle (manufactured by yourself utilizing a new AR type receiver) and once modified will be less than 26 inches long or have a barrel of less than 16 inches in length it would be a "weapon made from a rifle" as defined in the NFA.
It would be unlawful to make this weapon without first submitting an ATF NFA Form 1 along with pictures and fingerprints and paying a 200.00 making tax. Once the approved ATF NFA Form 1 was returned to you by our NFA Branch you could then legally make the firearm you describe in your email.
We must stress that merely filing the Form 1 does not give you the right to make the firearm. You must wait until the approved Form 1 is returned to you by the ATF NFA Branch before making the "weapon made from a rifle'.
A rifle receiver that has never been barreled and stocked as a rifle may be utilized in the manufacture of a pistol no special registration needs to be completed to manufacturer a pistol for your own use utilizing a receiver which has never been barreled and stocked as a rifle.
A pistol may be utilized in the manufacture of a rifle no special registration needs to be completed to do so provided that the barrel utilized on the rifle is at least 16 inches long.
If the barrel of the rifle was less than 16 inches in length the rifle would be a short barreled rifle (SBR) as defined above.
Creation of an SBR without first completing and receiving an approved ATF NFA Form 1, paying the required 200.00 making tax etc. would be unlawful.
Since the firearm was originally manufactured as a pistol prior to being lawfully altered into a rifle it would also be lawful for you to switch the configuration of the firearm to that of a pistol or standard rifle interchangeably at any time you wished.
In laymen terms, you may not convert a rifle into a pistol and then back into a rifle.
But you may convert a pistol into a rifle and back again provided you adhere to the requirements noted above.
We thank you for your inquiry and trust that the foregoing has been responsive.
Michael S Knapp
Firearms Enforcement Specialist
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Firearms and Explosives Industry Division
Firearms Industry Programs Branch
So like several of us have said, if your stripped "other" lower was originally configured as a rifle, it is illegal to change it to a pistol regardless of whether the atf finds out or not.
I emailed atf directly the exact thing im saying.
If i purchase a stripped lower as "other" and i build an ar rifle with a stock and a 20" barrel but then later decide i want an ar pistol and take it completely apart back to the "other" stripped lower, can i now use that same lower to make an ar pistol with a pistol brace and short barrel?
This is in reply to your recent email to the Firearms Industry Programs Branch (FIPB) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) seeking information on manufacturing a pistol utilizing a receiver which has been previously built in a rifle configuration (mounted with a shoulder stock and barrel by yourself). You wish to know if this would be lawful.
With respect to the definitions of handgun and pistol under Federal statutes and implementing regulations, you may be aware that the amended Gun Control Act of 1968,
18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(29), defines handgun as, in part, a firearm which has a short stock and is designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand .
Additionally, 27 CFR § 479.11 defines pistol to mean a weapon originally designed, made, and intended to fire a projectile (bullet) from one or more barrels when held in one hand, and having (a) a chamber(s) as an integral part(s) of, or permanently aligned with, the bore(s); and (b) a short stock designed to be gripped by one hand and at an angle to and extending below the line of the bore(s).
A "rifle" is defined as a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of an explosive in a fixed metallic cartridge to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger (18 U.S.C. § 921 (a)(7))
The term "short barreled rifle" means a rifle having one or more barrels less than sixteen inches in length (26 U.S.C. § 5845(a)(3)).
The term "weapon made from a rifle" means a weapon made from a rifle which as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length (5845(a)(4).
Since the firearm you propose to make was originally a rifle (manufactured by yourself utilizing a new AR type receiver) and once modified will be less than 26 inches long or have a barrel of less than 16 inches in length it would be a "weapon made from a rifle" as defined in the NFA.
It would be unlawful to make this weapon without first submitting an ATF NFA Form 1 along with pictures and fingerprints and paying a 200.00 making tax. Once the approved ATF NFA Form 1 was returned to you by our NFA Branch you could then legally make the firearm you describe in your email.
We must stress that merely filing the Form 1 does not give you the right to make the firearm. You must wait until the approved Form 1 is returned to you by the ATF NFA Branch before making the "weapon made from a rifle'.
A rifle receiver that has never been barreled and stocked as a rifle may be utilized in the manufacture of a pistol no special registration needs to be completed to manufacturer a pistol for your own use utilizing a receiver which has never been barreled and stocked as a rifle.
A pistol may be utilized in the manufacture of a rifle no special registration needs to be completed to do so provided that the barrel utilized on the rifle is at least 16 inches long.
If the barrel of the rifle was less than 16 inches in length the rifle would be a short barreled rifle (SBR) as defined above.
Creation of an SBR without first completing and receiving an approved ATF NFA Form 1, paying the required 200.00 making tax etc. would be unlawful.
Since the firearm was originally manufactured as a pistol prior to being lawfully altered into a rifle it would also be lawful for you to switch the configuration of the firearm to that of a pistol or standard rifle interchangeably at any time you wished.
In laymen terms, you may not convert a rifle into a pistol and then back into a rifle.
But you may convert a pistol into a rifle and back again provided you adhere to the requirements noted above.
We thank you for your inquiry and trust that the foregoing has been responsive.
Michael S Knapp
Firearms Enforcement Specialist
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Firearms and Explosives Industry Division
Firearms Industry Programs Branch
So like several of us have said, if your stripped "other" lower was originally configured as a rifle, it is illegal to change it to a pistol regardless of whether the atf finds out or not.