WestKentucky
Member
I am curious about constructive possession and particularly the possession of “spare parts” with which a person has no use. For sake of argument let’s just say that the parts retain some minimal monetary value and as such the owner chooses not to discard them.
Scenario 1:
Owner at a later date acquires an AR pistol and now owns all of the parts to assemble them into configuration of an SBR. Is this constructive possession? Owner has no other AR and the stock has been in the spare parts bin for a while, and owner has no intention of using them to create an illegal weapon.
Scenario 2:
Same as above but owner owns both an AR pistol and AR carbine. Parts can be assembled in multiple ways to configure both non-NFA configurations as well as NFA configurations.
Scenario 3:
Gun when purchased is technically an unregistered SBR but is purchased as two halves, separated and never put together again. The short upper becomes a pistol while the carbine lower becomes a carbine. For the trip home, is there constructive possession? For sake of argument the dummy who assembled it didn’t know better.
Scenario 4:
Same as scenario 3 however new owner only wants to build out the pistol. He retains a complete carbine lower but does not own a carbine upper. Since there is no way to complete this chunk of gun into a legal configuration, but all other chunks can be used legally is this constructive possession?
It seems that this is mostly a concern for modular firearms. And since there aren’t as many modular guns as there are standard guns that the law is not as clear or as well understood as other laws. It’s not as simple as “don’t own this item”, it’s more in line with “don’t own the stuff to make this item.”
Scenario 1:
Owner at a later date acquires an AR pistol and now owns all of the parts to assemble them into configuration of an SBR. Is this constructive possession? Owner has no other AR and the stock has been in the spare parts bin for a while, and owner has no intention of using them to create an illegal weapon.
Scenario 2:
Same as above but owner owns both an AR pistol and AR carbine. Parts can be assembled in multiple ways to configure both non-NFA configurations as well as NFA configurations.
Scenario 3:
Gun when purchased is technically an unregistered SBR but is purchased as two halves, separated and never put together again. The short upper becomes a pistol while the carbine lower becomes a carbine. For the trip home, is there constructive possession? For sake of argument the dummy who assembled it didn’t know better.
Scenario 4:
Same as scenario 3 however new owner only wants to build out the pistol. He retains a complete carbine lower but does not own a carbine upper. Since there is no way to complete this chunk of gun into a legal configuration, but all other chunks can be used legally is this constructive possession?
It seems that this is mostly a concern for modular firearms. And since there aren’t as many modular guns as there are standard guns that the law is not as clear or as well understood as other laws. It’s not as simple as “don’t own this item”, it’s more in line with “don’t own the stuff to make this item.”