922r does not apply to pistols . . . but . . .? (SBR question)

[Arizona_Mike]

922r does not apply to pistols but does it apply to an SBR made from an all-imported-part pistol?

It shall be unlawful for any person to assemble from imported parts any semiautomatic rifle or any shotgun which is identical to any rifle or shotgun prohibited from importation under section 925(d)(3) of this chapter as not being particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes except . . .

Looking at the definitions section for the same Chapter (44) of 18 USC (sec 921):

(7) The term “rifle” means a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of an explosive to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger.
(8) The term “short-barreled rifle” means a rifle having one or more barrels less than sixteen inches in length and any weapon made from a rifle (whether by alteration, modification, or otherwise) if such weapon, as modified, has an overall length of less than twenty-six inches.

As far as reading 922r, is a short barreled rifle a subtype of rifle or a completely different thing?

Mike

 

[Arizona_Mike]

Duh! There are 28 Glock SBRs in the NFATracker.com database (including mine). The huge number of counterexamples certainly prevents 922r from applying to SBRs made from pistols in the same way PGO shotguns are not DDs . . . the cat is out of the bag.

Mike

 

[tyeo098]

There was a letter out there that says YES, SBR's are subject to 922r

And here it is: http://tyleryeomans.com/images/ATFLetters/nfa922.jpg

 

[Arizona_Mike]

There are two ATF letters and the details and context matter.

The 2009 letter you posted was in response to a question about assembling a NFA firearm from imported parts.

This 2006 letter was about making an NFA from a complete functioning imported firearm and the ATF said 922r does not apply (but they only explicitly said so for complete rifles and complete shotguns and did not specifically address pistols).




The question about making a rifle from a pistol by adding a stock has not been specifically addressed*, but between the Roni, KPOS, and Fab Defense Tactical Stocks for the Glock, there are a thousands of both Title I and Title II rifles out there with 100% Austrian and Israeli parts.

It was only after posting the question (thinking in terms of a SBR from an AK or VZ pistol) that it dawned on my how much a no-brainer my initial question was.

*--or has it been addressed indirectly? The 2011 ruling about going back and forth between rifle and pistol being OK said that such conversions do not constitute "making" a firearm and 922r is after-all a making/importing offense.

Mike