Buying a ghost gun before the ban

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castile

castile

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Anyone buying a ghost gun or two before the ban? The prices are way down and I assume its due to the vendors not wanting to get stuck with a lot of stock after the ban. I have seen Poly80 Third Gen glock 19 frame kits going for 85 dollars. And lower parts kit for 50 bucks. That is really cheap.
 
Ghost guns are the term made up for guns made outside the normal federal regulatory system. Ghost guns may be either legal or illegal depending on a number of circumstances. For example, if they are made for sale, they are illegal. If they are made for personal use they are legal as long as they don't have features that are illegal under state or federal law.

However, whether one agrees or disagrees with the terminology, 80% receivers are not ghost guns. They are not guns at all until they are completed. So buying an 80% receiver is not buying a ghost gun.
 
Also, the term "80 percent" is a marketing term; not one defined in Law or Regulation.

It's a marketing term to describe an incomplete bit of something which might, with sufficient artifice be made to resemble a firearm part when finished.

If a person were to possess, say, the frame and body of an automobile from about 1920 or 1930 (before VINs had to be put on frames and the like) would that be a "ghost" car?

I have a couple of unfinished right side plates for Browning 1919s; they are pretty much just over-sized paperweights. Particularly without 1919 Parts Kits.
 
Would a gun i bought at a yard sale or flea market be a ghost gun?
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Not unless it was made by someone for their personal use and then sold later.
does it have a serial number?
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The presence of a serial number is immaterial.

Guns manufactured prior to the GCA were not required to be serial numbered.
Guns made for personal use may or may not have serial numbers. It's not required, but it is recommended and some people do apply them.
 
I disagree. A serial no is what makes a ghost gun. Its not building it yourself, its not anything but the lack of a serial number. The building it yourself is what gets you around a serial no.
 
I disagree. A serial no is what makes a ghost gun. Its not building it yourself, its not anything but the lack of a serial number. The building it yourself is what gets you around a serial no.
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So guns legally manufactured and sold/imported in the U.S. before the GCA that don't have serial numbers are ghost guns?

I've not heard that definition. The definition is a gun that doesn't go through the normal process federal record-keeping requires because it is built by someone other than a firearm manufacturer. That person could choose to apply a serial number or not. If they choose to put one on, it's still a "ghost gun".
 
I see no reason for any retailer to get stuck with 80% receivers even if they did become banned.......a few minutes in a CNC, install a serial number and your inventory doesn't need scrapped.
 
castile said:
A serial no is what makes a ghost gun.
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As pointed out, firearms before 1934 (oops, 1968:oops:) GCA did not require a serial number.
This Anti propaganda term "ghost gun" that has recently been developed refers to firearms that are recent manufacture, often illegally made for resale, and lacking a serial number.
 
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Are them ghost guns anything like them deadly assault weapons I keep hearing about??????? Both are terms used by the media to scare people that don't know any better. Just like the term "high capacity magazine" is used.

Here is what the ATF has to say about unfinished receivers/frames

What is an “80%” or “unfinished" receiver?

“80% receiver,” “80% finished,” “80% complete” and “unfinished receiver” are all terms referring to an item that some may believe has not yet reached a stage of manufacture that meets the definition of "firearm frame" or "receiver" according to the Gun Control Act (GCA). These are not statutory terms and ATF does not use or endorse them.
Last Reviewed February 6, 2020
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Found here: https://www.atf.gov/firearms/qa/what-“80”-or-“unfinished-receiver
 
Ghost gun is just a term that means a gun that can not be traced. I don't argue stupid semantics like assault weapons, Meanings of words change and Assault weapon has always been a bit vague. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assault weapon One may not like it but the definition is what it is. To argue it is as stupid as the idiots who say I lost my guns in a boating accident. That was funny once about 15 years ago now its just a sophomoric thing to say. A ghost gun has nothing to do with making a gun yourself or by a non factory maker. It all lays with the serial number or rather lack of one. If you made a gun and serialized it and gave that info to ATF no one would give two craps about them. The fact is the left hates them because anyone can have one shipped to their door no questions asked an in 30 min to 3 hours depending on what you are making you have a gun that no one in the world except you know exists. So it all lays with the serial number. If the rule goes into affect and I would bet tomorrow's rent money it will, than you can still buy one but it will be serialized and you have to pass a nic's check to get on, so why build one like that when you can buy a fully made one? No one would or very few would. Not every one buying a ghost gun is a criminal some people just feel the less the gov knows the better. I fall into that category. Most guns have had serial numbers on them since the Civil war. I have one Savage 22 that was my dad's that has no serial number on it. These are not an issue because criminals don't buy older guns with out serial numbers on them they buy stolen guns and remove the serial numbers. But serial numbers can be raised with acid and some other means. A ghost gun has nothing to raise.
 
Given human nature makes you wonder if banning anything doesn't just have the opposite effect. The gov't success rate in banning drugs seems to support that.

Forgot to add that at last show the vendors sold out of 80% receivers of all kinds. One even restocked from his truck before he too ran out. There's a site on the net that offers complete parts lots from police confiscated guns. These are all less receiver. Stuff like glock parts "kits" get immediate high bids, some selling for nearly what a complete gun would cost.
 
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I agree. Just like bump stocks. How many were turned in and how many are hidden in walls or buried? My guess is a lot are buried.
 
castile said:
I disagree. A serial no is what makes a ghost gun. Its not building it yourself, its not anything but the lack of a serial number. The building it yourself is what gets you around a serial no.
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As others have pointed out, serial numbers were not always required, though below, hso has the date wrong. It was required on guns manufactured by companies, not necessarily individuals, thenceforth, when the 1968 GCA was enacted. I own 2 .22 rifles without serial numbers made by major manufacturers, one in the 50's, the other (this is a SWAG) early 60's. Are these 'ghost guns'?

hso said:
As pointed out, firearms before 1934 GCA did not require a serial number.
This Anti propaganda term "ghost gun" that has recently been developed refers to firearms that are recent manufacture, often illegally made for resale, and lacking a serial number.
Click to expand...

See above. 1934 was the NFA, 1968 was the GCA.
 
castile said:
One may not like it but the definition is what it is. To argue it is as stupid as the idiots who say I lost my guns in a boating accident.
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Saul Alinsky wrote, "He who controls the language, controls the masses."

The Left has been working tirelessly to do so, to the point that even some gun enthusiasts use words like "assault weapon" to define weapons that do not fit the original meaning. (From the German, "Sturmgewehr" litterally, "assault rifle" meaning a selective fire rifle or carbine.)
Ghost gun is another; it implies nefarious intent by the owner of such, when in fact, almost all owners of such have no nefarious intent whatsoever.

Here is a look a another 'front' the Left is attacking language by redefining it.

https://moellerlit.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/2/4/10248653/1984_--_vree_article_on_language.pdf

Another one is the sleight of hand that made the Democrats the "Blue Party" and the GOP the "Red Party", when the truth is the reverse would be more literal and descriptive.
 
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