What actually happens, legally, if ATF declares AR pistols to be NFA items?

[Martin248]

Not meant to be a thread on the politics but on the actual legal implications if ATF change the rule, as Biden has asked them to, and declares an AR pistol to be an NFA item?

What happens to people who relied on the prior rule and purchased one?

Is everyone who owns an AR pistol a criminal instantly? And what can they do at that point? Would there be grace time to pay the NFA tax?

Would disassembling such an AR15 pistol be sufficient to be legal, or would possession of the disassembled parts still be considered constructive possession?

Also, what is the timeline? How fast can they change a rule, and can they then apply it retroactively? Suppose they seize an AR pistol today, and change the rule tomorrow, do they claim it was ALWAYS illegal? Or does it become illegal when the rule changes?

 

[AK Hunter]

It would depend if there was any guns grandfathered in or not. Some of the laws had a grandfather clause that exempted the guns already produced.

 

[AlexanderA]

Those questions can't be answered because we have no idea what direction this will take.

Note, however, that while you can't make a pistol out of a rifle (without paying the "making" tax), you can make a rifle out of a pistol. I imagine that "pistol" lower receivers could be reconfigured into rifles. Those that wanted to keep short barrels on them would probably be allowed a one-time free registration as SBRs (if history is any precedent).

Honestly, I wouldn't sweat it. No matter what they do, it would put an impossible burden on the ATF. Additional NFA registrations alone would swamp the agency.

 

[Martin248]

It would depend if there was any guns grandfathered in or not. Some of the laws had a grandfather clause that exempted the guns already produced.

This isn't a new law, though. As I understand it they are going to "correct" their interpretation of the existing law and claim that AR pistols have been NFA firearms all along.

 

[Martin248]

Also, itv will not be possession of the "pistol stock" that's the problem? It'll be possession of the short barrel. Unless you have an NFA stamp, the short barrel sitting next to any kind of AR receiver could be seen as constructive possesion of an SBR.

There will be no more such thing as "AR pistol" nor any distinction between a rifle receiver and a pistol receiver. There will simply be AR receivers with NFA and non NFA barrels.

The possession of the "pistol stock" will either be irrelevant, or else will be used to show intent to assemble an SBR--you bought a stock just for it.

Or am I missing something?

I mean, I know this will get challenged in court, but leaving aside a supreme court challenge, how will this be applied?

 

[Frank Ettin]

There's no way to know until it's actually done, because it depends on how it's done. Anything satd at this point will be based on guesswork and speculation.

So there's nothing