The Deer Hunter
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Ron James' post is helpful
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What are the legality issues...
- Thread starter Nolo
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There are *two* sets of laws you need to be aware of here.
The first is Federal law. Under Federal law, a "rifle" is any (rifled) firearm manufactured so that it is intended to be fired from the shoulder. Under Federal law a rifle *must* have a minimum barrel length of 16" and the overall length of the rifle must be at least 26."
The exception is something called a "Short Barreled Rifle" or SBR. A SBR may have a barrel less then 16" in length. The manufacturer of a SBR must first apply for a special "tax stamp" to manufacture a SBR and must pay a $200 tax for every SBR they make. Every time that SBR is transfered to a new individual, another $200 "transfer tax" is paid. (I'm not sure if a SBR has to have a minimum overall length. I don't think it does, but I could be wrong).
A "pistol" is any (non smooth bore) firearm intended to be fired by being held in the hands. Pistols can have any length barrel. Pistols can NOT have a shoulder stock because the addition of a shoulder stock to a pistol creates a "Short Barrelled Rifle." (There are a few exceptions for C&R pistols, but let's not go there now).
Any firearm that is manufactured as a rifle must keep that 16" barrel length and 26" overall length, unless approval is granted to convert it into a SBR and the appropriate tax is paid. That is why you can't just buy a rifle and saw off the barrel to make the barrel shorter or saw off the stock to turn it into a pistol. The only legal way to do it is to pay the $200 tax and apply for the tax stamp.
If the receiver was manufactured to be a "rifle," even if it was never assembled, it is legally a "rifle" and can not be built up into "pistol" configuration. If the receiver was manufactured to be a "pistol," like the AR and AK pistols common now, then it can be built up as a pistol.
Additionally, it *is* legal to add a buttstock to a pistol to make it into a rifle AS LONG AS you also change the barrel so the barrel is at least 16" long. There are conversion kits for the 1911 and Glock pistols that turn them into rifles. (If you used one of those kits, but kept the original pistol barrel instead of using the 16" barrel, you would be violating the law by manufacturing a SBR).
You also have to be aware of your own STATE law. Although SBR's are legal under Federal law, not all states allow them under state law. If your state does not allow SBR's, you can't have one, even though they are legal under Federal law.
That's a simplified version of the basics. As I mentioned earlier, there are exceptions that allow C&R pistols that originally had shoulder stocks to be legal with a shoulder stock, but those exceptions are pretty narrow.
There's also another cateogry called "Any Other Weapon" or AOW. These include things like Pen Guns, and pistols with a vertical foregrip.
The first is Federal law. Under Federal law, a "rifle" is any (rifled) firearm manufactured so that it is intended to be fired from the shoulder. Under Federal law a rifle *must* have a minimum barrel length of 16" and the overall length of the rifle must be at least 26."
The exception is something called a "Short Barreled Rifle" or SBR. A SBR may have a barrel less then 16" in length. The manufacturer of a SBR must first apply for a special "tax stamp" to manufacture a SBR and must pay a $200 tax for every SBR they make. Every time that SBR is transfered to a new individual, another $200 "transfer tax" is paid. (I'm not sure if a SBR has to have a minimum overall length. I don't think it does, but I could be wrong).
A "pistol" is any (non smooth bore) firearm intended to be fired by being held in the hands. Pistols can have any length barrel. Pistols can NOT have a shoulder stock because the addition of a shoulder stock to a pistol creates a "Short Barrelled Rifle." (There are a few exceptions for C&R pistols, but let's not go there now).
Any firearm that is manufactured as a rifle must keep that 16" barrel length and 26" overall length, unless approval is granted to convert it into a SBR and the appropriate tax is paid. That is why you can't just buy a rifle and saw off the barrel to make the barrel shorter or saw off the stock to turn it into a pistol. The only legal way to do it is to pay the $200 tax and apply for the tax stamp.
If the receiver was manufactured to be a "rifle," even if it was never assembled, it is legally a "rifle" and can not be built up into "pistol" configuration. If the receiver was manufactured to be a "pistol," like the AR and AK pistols common now, then it can be built up as a pistol.
Additionally, it *is* legal to add a buttstock to a pistol to make it into a rifle AS LONG AS you also change the barrel so the barrel is at least 16" long. There are conversion kits for the 1911 and Glock pistols that turn them into rifles. (If you used one of those kits, but kept the original pistol barrel instead of using the 16" barrel, you would be violating the law by manufacturing a SBR).
You also have to be aware of your own STATE law. Although SBR's are legal under Federal law, not all states allow them under state law. If your state does not allow SBR's, you can't have one, even though they are legal under Federal law.
That's a simplified version of the basics. As I mentioned earlier, there are exceptions that allow C&R pistols that originally had shoulder stocks to be legal with a shoulder stock, but those exceptions are pretty narrow.
There's also another cateogry called "Any Other Weapon" or AOW. These include things like Pen Guns, and pistols with a vertical foregrip.
geekWithA.45
Moderator Emeritus
And why all the nonsense?
1934 National Firearms Act.
They originally wanted to treat handguns as restricted arms, (like machine guns and bazookas) subject to background checks and tax stamps, and so all the SBS/SBR stuff was put in to prevent long guns from being converted to handguns.
Handguns were pulled from the bill before passage, but all the SBR/SBS stuff was left in.
Ultimately, once it was accepted that civilian ownership of arms could be federally regulated at all, this helped pave the path for the idea that handguns and long arms could be regulated differently.
This theme was expanded upon in detail with the 1968 Gun Control Act, which invented the "nonsporting arms" classification, which was again expanded upon with the 1994 "assault weapon" ban, in which case a whole new classification of armament, the "assault weapon", was fabricated out of a whole cloth, reportedly by going through a gun catalog and selecting anything subjectively deemed to be too fearsome for civil use.
Every law since 1934 has sown the seeds for the next.
That explains why we're all a bit tetchy, perhaps beyond the point of reason, about any new element, no matter how minor, being enacted into law.
Way too many "minor" features of old laws have become the basis of the major features of new laws.
1934 National Firearms Act.
They originally wanted to treat handguns as restricted arms, (like machine guns and bazookas) subject to background checks and tax stamps, and so all the SBS/SBR stuff was put in to prevent long guns from being converted to handguns.
Handguns were pulled from the bill before passage, but all the SBR/SBS stuff was left in.
Ultimately, once it was accepted that civilian ownership of arms could be federally regulated at all, this helped pave the path for the idea that handguns and long arms could be regulated differently.
This theme was expanded upon in detail with the 1968 Gun Control Act, which invented the "nonsporting arms" classification, which was again expanded upon with the 1994 "assault weapon" ban, in which case a whole new classification of armament, the "assault weapon", was fabricated out of a whole cloth, reportedly by going through a gun catalog and selecting anything subjectively deemed to be too fearsome for civil use.
Every law since 1934 has sown the seeds for the next.
That explains why we're all a bit tetchy, perhaps beyond the point of reason, about any new element, no matter how minor, being enacted into law.
Way too many "minor" features of old laws have become the basis of the major features of new laws.
Actually, a manufacturer (with a class 2 SOT) registers newly-manufactured SBRs tax-free on a Form 2. The SBR transfers tax-free to a dealer (with a class 3 SOT) on a Form 3. The SBR transfers tax-paid ($200) to an individual on a Form 4.The manufacturer of a SBR must first apply for a special "tax stamp" to manufacture a SBR and must pay a $200 tax for every SBR they make. Every time that SBR is transfered to a new individual, another $200 "transfer tax" is paid.
Actually, a manufacturer (with a class 2 SOT) registers newly-manufactured SBRs tax-free on a Form 2. The SBR transfers tax-free to a dealer (with a class 3 SOT) on a Form 3. The SBR transfers tax-paid ($200) to an individual on a Form 4.
I stand corrected. I think I was confusing the transfer tax and the excise tax when I wrote that.
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