AR Pistol legality?

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  • pilot25

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 13, 2016
    1,822
    With the latest bump stock ban, what are the chances AR pistols fall to the same kind of fate? Might be a rhetorical question as anything is possible.

    Bump stocks were relatively unknown to the antis until Las Vegas. If the next mass murderer uses an AR pistol it could be the next anti target.

    That being said, I understand when a lower starts as a pistol it can be changed to a rifle but a lower starting as a rifle cannot be changed to a pistol. Can a pistol lower be changed back and forth or are you stuck as a rifle once it is changed into a rifle?

    I guess I'm trying to prepare for the fact I might have to put a rifle upper on it one day. The whole thing is stupid but I feel for the bump stock owners who spent good money and now cannot legally use them.
     

    Hawkeye

    The Leatherstocking
    Jan 29, 2009
    3,971
    With the latest bump stock ban, what are the chances AR pistols fall to the same kind of fate? Might be a rhetorical question as anything is possible.

    In what sense?

    AR pistols themselves are legal, and will remain legal unless someone finds some way to ban them.

    Pistol braces are currently legal, but the ATF has waffled back and forth on this several times, having settled on their current "thought crime" interpretation of things. (I.e. a braced pistol is legal, and touching that brace to your shoulder is legal, but you can't have been intending to use it that way when you made the gun.) ATF could change their mind about pistol braces at any time.

    That being said, I understand when a lower starts as a pistol it can be changed to a rifle but a lower starting as a rifle cannot be changed to a pistol.

    That is correct. Put more specifically, if a firearm is a rifle first, it is a rifle forever. If it is a pistol first then it can go back and forth as much as you want. It can start life as a pistol or as a stripped lower, but as long as you build it into a pistol first you can swap back and forth as much as you want.

    Can a pistol lower be changed back and forth or are you stuck as a rifle once it is changed into a rifle?

    Yes. You can go pistol -> rifle -> pistol -> rifle as much as you want.
     

    smokey

    2A TEACHER
    Jan 31, 2008
    31,412
    I believe that cat is firmly out of the bag. The ATF recently claimed they aren't revisiting the brace issue, so its settled for now. I would not be shocked at all if it became another target for antigunners though....especially in our state.
     

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    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,877
    * IF * the next letter on the subject has a different interpretation about pistol braces and uses thereof , currently popular flavors could potentially be treated as SBR .

    At various times Anti hysteria about pistol physical size has been all over the map . First small pistols ( called Saturday Night Special ) were extra evil , " because they can be easily concealed , etc " Then really large pistols ( called Assault Pistolss ) were extra evil . Then briefly in the mid to late '90s , the Anti's attempted to demonize Medium sized pistols . Couldn't really come up with a coherent reasoning even by liberal standards . With the lack of a catch derogatory nickname , that quickly didn't gain momentum .
     

    Maswasnos

    Member
    Feb 24, 2018
    24
    PG County
    I'd guess that braces won't be on the radar of anti-gunners for a while. The ATF has been pretty firm about braces not being stocks, and it's pretty clear that they can't regulate how you use the gun (shouldering). You're far more likely to see a ban on all AR style weaponry before you see a ban on braces.

    It's just not something that anti-gunners are even aware of at this point. Bump stocks and echo triggers were targeted because they actually did something to the firearm to change its functionality- braces don't do anything different than a stock, and the vast majority of people have no clue that braces aren't stocks. If you've ever tried to explain the difference between a rifle, SBR, and a pistol to a non-gun person, you'll know that the public just has no clue about these things.

    In fact I think all of the NFA stuff will probably remain the same for the foreseeable future, just because so few people are really aware of it. Suppressors might be targeted because of the movies, but otherwise nobody cares about SBR's and very few people care about $30,000+ machine guns.
     

    pilot25

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 13, 2016
    1,822
    I think your fine for now but i saw on the news a MoCo man robbing 7-11s with an AR Pistol

    AR pistols are enough under the radar that it causes problems like this. I wonder how much, in legal fees, this poor guy had to spend to educate the court that he was in fact legal in possession and use.

    The more popular it becomes it'll be the next thing on DFs hit list.

    I plan on getting one and SBRing it. Then just replace the pistol stock with a rifle one and donate the pistol stock to someone on here.
     

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