Legal Guidance or AG opinion on Homemade Firearms Requirements after October 1?

[BoonsboroKen]

All,

Hi, I'm new!

I've been reading a lot lately about how to build your own firearms, and am considering taking it up as a hobby.

I'm mostly interested in building my own semi-auto long gun.

Do you know where the legal requirements, or perhaps a Maryland Attorney General opinion, can be found, with regards to personal manufacture of a long gun?

I am aware that I would be unable to sell said long gun, and am perfectly fine with that as this would be for my personal use only.

Thanks!

 

[River Mud]

First, I am not a lawyer.

Second, this has been covered multiple times, please search "80%" and "stripped lowers" for the identical topics.

There is no direct written regulation on this. However several people on this forum have asked the state police about this and have gotten several different answers. Part of that is because the definitions of "manufacture" and "assembly" and "completion" are all ambiguous or not covered in the new law. And part of which (one of my favorite barroom topics) is an issue where the law is based on 1990s gun laws that fail to acknowledge or understand the coming wave of DIY firearm manufacture thanks to polymer technology. None of that matters to you, the dude who is sitting home with five 80% AR lowers, nine days before the AR ban takes effect.

The safe bet is this: A stripped lower *IS* a firearm in the United States. All of your AR "projects" should be at least to that level of completion by October 1. No half-drilled out 80% lowers, no 95% lowers only missing the trigger group punch-through. Get them drilled out so they can accept a lower parts kit. This week. Some folks may wait, hoping for legal relief to delay the implementation of the law, but I personally wouldn't want to sit on that side of the fence and "hope for the best." Just my personality.

Good luck and get them done!

 

[Markp]

First, I am not a lawyer.

Second, this has been covered multiple times, please search "80%" and "stripped lowers" for the identical topics.

There is no direct written regulation on this. However several people on this forum have asked the state police about this and have gotten several different answers. Part of that is because the definitions of "manufacture" and "assembly" and "completion" are all ambiguous or not covered in the new law. And part of which (one of my favorite barroom topics) is an issue where the law is based on 1990s gun laws that fail to acknowledge or understand the coming wave of DIY firearm manufacture thanks to polymer technology. None of that matters to you, the dude who is sitting home with five 80% AR lowers, nine days before the AR ban takes effect.

The safe bet is this: A stripped lower *IS* a firearm in the United States. All of your AR "projects" should be at least to that level of completion by October 1. No half-drilled out 80% lowers, no 95% lowers only missing the trigger group punch-through. Get them drilled out so they can accept a lower parts kit. This week. Some folks may wait, hoping for legal relief to delay the implementation of the law, but I personally wouldn't want to sit on that side of the fence and "hope for the best." Just my personality.

Good luck and get them done!

+1. Regardless of the way the law is interpreted, if humanly possible, you want your receivers to be legally considered a firearm before 10/1/2013 passes you by.

Mark

 

[BoonsboroKen]

Thank you, but perhaps I should clarify.

I'm not talking AR-15, AK, or any other soon to be "banned" firearm.

I'm talking 100% handmade firearms, custom fabricated from scratch. Not based upon any current commercially available firearm designs.

Since the design wouldn't meet a "copycat" of any banned firearm, then it would only need to pass the "only one evil feature" test, correct?

 

[River Mud]

Thank you, but perhaps I should clarify.

I'm not talking AR-15, AK, or any other soon to be "banned" firearm.

I'm talking 100% handmade firearms, custom fabricated from scratch. Not based upon any current commercially available firearm designs.

Since the design wouldn't meet a "copycat" of any banned firearm, then it would only need to pass the "only one evil feature" test, correct?

Well, that's the big question. Evidence (loose use of the term) is sneaking out that the state police seek to cast the net of "copycat" as widely as possible. Until it's turned into actions and people are being arrested and homemade custom guns are being confiscated (assumedly, as the result of other criminal shenanigans), who knows? As for "evil features," I wouldn't even put a collapsible stock on a shotgun in MD right now, certainly not if I ever intended to take it to a public range. How the law was written and how LEO will enforce it are two very different things, and will probably vary even by county.

My advice is to read up on this forum - none of us knows what's going to happen, when the existing minor loopholes might close, etc.

 

[HiballHiside]

Thank you, but perhaps I should clarify.

I'm not talking AR-15, AK, or any other soon to be "banned" firearm.

I'm talking 100% handmade firearms, custom fabricated from scratch. Not based upon any current commercially available firearm designs.

Since the design wouldn't meet a "copycat" of any banned firearm, then it would only need to pass the "only one evil feature" test, correct?

You may be venturing into AOW territory which has NFA written all over it IMHO. Check the BATF website.

 

[Markp]

Thank you, but perhaps I should clarify.

I'm not talking AR-15, AK, or any other soon to be "banned" firearm.

I'm talking 100% handmade firearms, custom fabricated from scratch. Not based upon any current commercially available firearm designs.

Since the design wouldn't meet a "copycat" of any banned firearm, then it would only need to pass the "only one evil feature" test, correct?

Still the benefit is that even if they "don't meet the copy cat standard" that you will still be ahead of the game by getting them to be legally receivers prior to 10/1/2013. Which per the ATF means that they can accept 2 out of 3 things.

1. a FCG
2. a Magazine or chamber a round
3. a Barrel

Who makes that determination on a "homemade" gun of your design. Fvck if I know, I guess that would be you. In the case of an AK receiver, if it can accept a magazine (by virtue of a hole in the bottom), a trunnion, and a set of trigger pins, it's a receiver.

No offense, but I find it highly unlikely that your design will be so unique and novel that it will not be related to some previous design.

A steel tube with a cutout for a trigger group and a mag well? Receiver (ala Sten) = receiver.
A rectangle with fcg holes and a means of mounting an upper receiver (ala single shot AR) = receiver.
A right side plate for a 1919A4 machine gun (don't ask me how this is) = Receiver!

What you want to call the receiver, should be based on previously existing designs and documented in a build book for each weapon along with the day of the "build". If you decide that you are going to make right side plates your "receiver", justify it in your build book and ensure the weapon cannot function without it. Then drill out about 100 of them before 10/1/2013. If you are using a tube design, same logic applies.

This way, you can build fully featured weapons that were "assault weapons" on the day they became firearms. Once again, document these features in your build book. As of today, it appears that you would not have to have the components for all 100, just 1 folding stock and flash hider to touch to each receiver to transfer the assault weapon magic to it prior to 10/1/2013.

Mark

 

[swinokur]

Howdy. Join the fight.

www.marylandshallissue.org
.
.

 

[KingGeorge]

Howdy. Join the fight.

www.marylandshallissue.org
.
.

I'm joining this week..