Lower registration

The new 4473 has a new box with "Other Firearms (Frame, Reciever, etc.), not "both."

A frame or receiver is a firearm, but neither a long gun or handgun, until it is assembled.

This new requirement (actually a clarification of the 1968 law), means a couple of things:
1. Someone between the ages of 18 & 20 can no longer buy a stripped frame or receiver, even if they intend to make it into a rifle.
2. No one can buy a stripped frame or receiver without it going through a FFL dealer in their own state.

So the bottom line is that a stripped frame or receiver is treated as if it is a handgun for transfer purposes, not registration.

Please stop using the term registration for the transfer process, even though I realize that the 4473 forms are kept on file. The more we call it "registration" the more the anti's will try to create a real registration.

He uses the online system vs. the phone-in, and according to him there are 3 checkboxes to choose from for a stripped reciever:

Pistol
Long gun
Both

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The online system AND the OLD 4473 used to have those options, going back at least 5 years, so it isn't a new option. "Both" was there in case someone purchased both a handgun and a long gun at the same time. Instead of checking one box for each, you just checked the Both box and that covered it.

When the new 4473 was released, they switched the old option for "Both" to "frame or receiver." This made more sense, since the Both option was sort of pointless anyway (how hard was it to check 2 boxes?)

Now, if someone picks up a pistol and a receiver at the same time, you check the box for pistol and the box for receiver on the 4473.

On the online NICS check, they have not updated the wording yet. The ATF sent out an email to everyone registered for the online NICS check instructing dealers to select the "Both" option if a receiver is being transferred. They said in the email that the wording would be changed, but that was back in November and it doesn't seem like changing text next to a check box from Both to Frame/Receiver should take this long.

waterhouse,

On the online NICS check, they have not updated the wording yet. The ATF sent out an email to everyone registered for the online NICS check instructing dealers to select the "Both" option if a receiver is being transferred.

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Thanks for the clarification. I wrongly assumed that both the paper and the online would be consistant.

2. No one can buy a stripped frame or receiver without it going through a FFL dealer in their own state.

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Hmmm. I would assume private transactions of a stripped lower would still be permissible in most states?