The FAQ is not clear about transferring an already registered, but stripped down, rifle to someone who's the subject of that registration as a GCA firearm...but it seems MIGHTY treacherous ground.
Actually, I don't think it's all that treacherous of a ground based on the ATF's FAQs that you posted. (Thanks for those, by the way. They're very informative.)
Let me quote a few of their FAQs to try to illustrate why I think it's okay to transfer the receiver before the stamp comes back.
(NOTE: I am attorney, but I'm not providing to legal advice to anyone reading this thread, so this is just my opinion and you should be very careful before acting on my opinion.)
The situation in question is this (at least far as my hypothetical goes): dealer is in possession of a factory SBR'd AR15 on a Form 3. Customer wants to buy the rifle, and fills out a Form 4 and mails it off to the ATF. Before the approved tax stamp arrives, the dealer has the customer fill out a 4473 and transfers the receiver to the customer, minus the short-barreled upper. The customer can then put a long-barrel upper on the receiver while he waits for the stamp. Once the stamp arrives, dealer hands him the short-barreled upper and the transaction is completed.
According to the ATF:
Q: May I transfer the receiver of a short-barrel rifle or shotgun to an FFL or to an individual as I would any GCA firearm?
Yes. A weapon that does not meet the definition of a NFA “firearm” is not subject to the NFA and a possessor or transferor needn’t comply with NFA requirements. The firearm is considered a GCA firearm and may be transferred under the provisions of that law.
So the dealer may transfer a stripped (or unbarreled) receiver to a customer as he would any other Title I firearm because it does not meet the definition of an NFA "firearm" in that configuration.
But he can't also separately give him the short-barreled upper until the tax stamp is in hand because:
If the possessor retains control over the barrel or other parts required to assemble the SBR or SBS, the firearm would still be subject to NFA transfer and possession regulations.
That's the constructive possession answer. If you have the lower and the upper to make an SBR, you possess an SBR.
It bears noting that retaining only the bolt doesn't make any difference on an AR15. The lower receiver and the barreled upper are the only parts that matter and cannot be combined without the stamp in hand.
I do think this answer was really informative:
A FFL should note a disposition in the A&D record only when the firearm is transferred out of his/her inventory. Title 27 Code of Federal Regulations, part 478.125 does not require an annotation declaring that a firearm is a GCA or NFA firearm. Any such notation would be at the FFL’s discretion. If the firearm is subject to the NFA at the time of transfer, the licensee is required to comply with the applicable transfer and possession regulations. Any inventory report should reflect the firearms currently registered to the FFL under the NFA. Therefore, ATF recommends written notification to the NFA Branch when a firearm is removed from the purview of the NFA.
The way I read that, the dealer must note that he has sold the receiver on the 4473 when he does it. And he must comply with the NFA statutes, but a bare receiver isn't an NFA firearm.
Basically, what the ATF is saying is that an SBR is only an SBR when it's configured as an SBR, or when a person has both parts in his possession. So if the dealer transfers the receiver as he must eventually do anyway, he'll note in his book that it's transferred. He doesn't have to do any additional record-keeping related to the NFA in his bound book according to that answer.
But once he gets the approved Form 4 back, then he can transfer (hand over) the other half (the barreled upper), and the NFA transfer will also be complete.
Anyway, that's how I analyze the situation. Maybe the ATF would disagree. I'm certainly no expert on reading their minds.
A letter to the tech branch on this subject would be interesting.
Aaron
Sounds like nothing now but I was poor then only 25 years old, but I knew things were going up and it was then or never. Your dealer might not be experienced with the transfers so it took him a little longer. The guy I went through had been a class 3 from the 70's he knew what he was doing.
