If it is an AR SBR. Can you just put a SIG brace on it and call it a Pistol, even though it is an SBR lower?
No. Once a rifle, always a rifle, never a pistol. It’s a felony to build a pistol from a rifle.
Keep in mind, as long as you don’t stop in any state, theoretically, the FOPA should cover you on possession where it would typically be illegal. But, that means no over night stops; even at Walmart. I wouldn’t even risk a sit down meal. No swinging by for a visit with friends outside of Chicago... And if you break down, that could be an issue. As long as it’s legal at your start point, and your destination, you’re protected. But as I alluded to, some localities get very liberal on their interpretation of “destination”, calling stops incidental to your travel, a “destination”.
Last edited by DP425; 07-14-2018 at 09:34 AM.
I wouldn’t be so sure. ATF ruling 2011-4 does not say you can go from a pistol to and SBR back to a pistol. The ruling is careful to include “with a barrel >16” in the “held” statements at the bottom, and admonishes you not to make an SBR in the process. While that part is probably just to remind you not to illegally make an SBR, the ruling does not say it’s ok to return an SBR back to a pistol.
That’s why my comment on ATF’s funny business.
That “decision” / “ruling” they have made, wasn’t voluntary. It was the result of a lawsuit brought by Thompson Center. Going back to that lawsuit will give you a better idea of the context... but that doesn’t free you from the ATF’s known creativity when they want to be *****s. Doesn’t mean they’d win in court... but the costs of you loosing usually ensures people typically take a plea.
ATF, COULD attempt the arguement that when you build an SBR on a Form 1, you are in-fact, creating a new firearm. This might even be an arguement that courts agree with... I mean, you are listed as the maker, and your city and state are engraved as manufacture. So in that reguard, it isn’t a pistol temporarily reconfigured into a rifle. It’s a pistol, REMANUFACTURED into an SBR... that would preclude it from ever being a pistol again.
But that all depends on if they can convince a court that the statute would properly infer “remanufacturing” (which doesn’t exist in the statute), the same status as original manufacture. It’s a toss up, since they treat Form 1 items, administratively, as newly manufactured items.
Last edited by DP425; 07-16-2018 at 03:35 PM.