What if you purchase an assembled lower with a brace which is classified "other" when you pick it up from an FFL and purchase a complete 8.5" upper. Then you decide to sell it. It has to be sold as a pistol then, correct? The reason I asked this is if I remember you can't be in possession of a short barrel and a AR rifle as that would be in possession of an SBR. So does being in possession of an 8.5" barrel make the lower automatically a pistol lower? Very confusing.
Last edited by erict; 08-10-2020 at 07:03 PM.
When you say sell it, what are you referring to? The lower or upper?
If you buy a lower, then put a upper on it and it meets the legal definition of a pistol in Michigan than a RI60 is completed unless the buyer is exempt.
If you resell only the lower, it's sold as a lower.
Simply owning an upper with less than a 16 inch barrel doesn't mean you have a SBR. Intent would have to be proven, simply owning the items NOT assembled doesn't make it a SBR.
The lower isn't anything until an upper is attached, and based on its configuration determines what it is.
It appears that you have it right, but looks twisted in your post. There is no such thing as constructive possession any more. I could also be misreading the "sell it" part.
You can sell the short upper, no problem.
You can sell the pistol you built, and since it is a pistol, you would sell it as such. And it doesn't matter that you could not do the paper work because of the way the law is written, you sell it with all of the paper work complete for that transaction.
You can sell the lower separately, as "other", provided you either don't own an AR rifle alone, or do own another lower that didn't start as a rifle along with the rifle.
The possession of the short upper only becomes an issue when, the only thing you CAN assemble with that part IS an NFA item.
This is a SCOTUS decision, Thompson vs US.
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All the best,
--esq_stu
NRA Life Member
NRA Certified Instructor: Basic Pistol, Personal Protection in the Home, Personal Protection Outside the Home
The above comments are not intended to be and do not constitute legal advice to anyone.
All the best,
--esq_stu
NRA Life Member
NRA Certified Instructor: Basic Pistol, Personal Protection in the Home, Personal Protection Outside the Home
The above comments are not intended to be and do not constitute legal advice to anyone.