Lowers after an AWB

[iRescue 0]

I, like many around the state, have been stocking up on lowers for a couple months.

 

My question is, let's say the feds or NJ passes an AWB that changes our rule from 2 "evil features" to 1.

 

If I already have an AR lower in my safe, can I still build out a rifle to current laws rather than new laws?

 

I better way of phrasing the question is, must a rifle be completed to be included in an grandfathering?

 

I guess there's now way of knowing when the rifle was completed since all you get for paperwork is on the lower.

 

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[Blacksmythe 71]

The lower is the rifle, everything else is a part of it. Just my opinion, I am sure there are guru's here.

[O-gre 7]

There will be NO AWB!

[Ray Ray 3,566]

another

[iRescue 0]

I'm with ya Ron. I am writing, calling and educating as much as I can. Just throwing out something just as a hypothetical.

 

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[The_Matrix 105]

another

 

+1.

[H.M. Murdock 0]

So you're the one buying up all the AR lowers.

 

We'll need to see the law first to answer those questions, do you have a copy of it?

[iRescue 0]

Haha. I've only got 2.

 

Haven't seen any text of the law. I'm just trying to build my first lower out and am worried that in the event that something were to pass, would I be in a tough spot.

 

I am not admitting defeat here when it comes to not having an AWB pass guys. Just posing a simple what if

 

 

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[Blacksmythe 71]

I dont own assault weapons I own modern sporting rifles.

[Keffak 0]

I dont own assault weapons I own modern sporting rifles.

This!

[TooBigToFit 2]

I'm not a lawyer, and it all depends on whether or not a new AWB passes (it shouldn't, if we don't let it), and how that AWB was written. But after some Googling, here's a link from Olympic Arms that should help...

 

http://www.olyarms.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28:is-my-olympic-arms-firearm-a-pre-ban&catid=7:general-questions

 

At this point you know what a Semiautomatic Assault Weapon (SAW) is defined as, but how do you determine what it is you have or what you can legally buy or make? What makes a gun "pre-ban?" What it all boils down to is when the firearm itself was built. The manufacture date of the lower receiver alone has virtually nothing to do with its classification as pre-ban. Edward M. Owen, Jr., Chief of the Firearms Technology Branch of the BATF, has this to say:

"Semiautomatic pistols and rifles assembled after September 13, 1994, and possessing two or more of the features listed in [section 921 (a) (30), Title 18 U.S.C.] are semiautomatic assault weapons as defined. The fact that the receiver may have been manufactured prior to September 13, 1994, is immaterial to classification of a weapon as a semiautomatic assault weapon. Additionally, payment or non-payment of excise tax is also immaterial to classification of a firearm as a semiautomatic assault weapon."

What he's reiterating is, as far as pre-ban and post-ban is concerned, the date of manufacture of the receiver has nothing to do with anything. If your SAW was built into a whole SAW, or in a complete kit form, before Sept. 13, 1994 (The Date), you are the lucky owner of a pre-ban receiver. Notice I say SAW. The existence of firearm alone is not enough - it had to be in a form that would now be illegal to manufacture. If the gun was built after The Date, if the receiver was without all of the parts to make a SAW before The Date, or if it was not in a SAW form before The Date, then it is post-ban. Let me give you a few examples to clarify this:

• John Q. Public bought himself an AR-15 receiver in 1988 and put it in his safe. In April 1997, he decided to build it into a rifle. Was it a gun before The Date? No…so he has to build it into a POST-ban firearm.
  
• Mary Quite-Contrary buys an AR-15 lower from her dealer who purchased it 7 years ago, built it into a SAW 2 weeks later, and in January '94 tore it apart to sell as components. Did she buy a pre-ban receiver? Yes. It was a SAW before the date, and is therefore pre-ban.
  
• Billy Bob finds a respectable dealer at a gun show that is selling "pre-ban AR pistol lowers." The dealer says he bought them before "the Ban" and registered them as pistol lowers, but never built them into anything. Are they pre-ban? No way. Are they pistol lowers? Sure...just post-ban pistol lowers. As long as they don't have two or more "Deadly Features" when they are built, they are legal.
  
• Fred Foosball buys a complete semiautomatic assault rifle kit in August 1994, but doesn't assemble it until September 14, 1994. Is it a legal pre-ban rifle. Yes it had all (and I mean ALL) of the pieces to make a complete SAW on The Date. BATF accepts this as a complete pre-ban rifle.
  
• Josh the Impaler purchases a Remington 1100 on July 4, 1994 in order to celebrate Independence Day. Ax McGuitar purchases a Remington 1100 on July 4, 1994 for duck hunting that fall. A year later, he decides that he would like a pistol grip and folding stock added to make it a better home defense gun. Is this legal? No. The shotgun was complete before The Date, but it was not a SAW before The Date, and therefore cannot be modified to a SAW after The Date.
  

Confused yet? Don't worry, it's a bit puzzling at first. The basic rule of thumb to use is, if you are planning to buy a pre-ban gun or receiver, make sure that the person selling it to you can prove that it was built as a SAW (or in a complete kit form) on or before The Date. If he or she can't do this, my best advice is do not buy it.

Many people also believe that a serial number can tell you whether or not a receiver is pre- or post-ban. This is not always the case, contrary to several lists that can be found online or at gun shows.

For example, if a manufacturer's books show a serial number as being manufactured on August 23, 1994, and also lists that serial number being shipped on September 3, 1994, is this a pre-ban receiver? Well, that information alone does not tell you. If the books only show when a serial number was made and left, you still don't know how it was shipped. Was it a rifle? or a receiver only? did the dealer who purchased it have it as a SAW before The Date? These are all questions that are unanswerable with the provided information, so don't go on these facts alone! Remember, you must know when the receiver was built into a firearm!

I hope that the foregoing has been responsive to any misconceptions you as the reader may have about pre-ban and post-ban receivers/guns/regulations. Please pass this information on to your friends, neighbors, local gun shops, or anywhere you feel this could be helpful. The more knowledge we all possess, the better off our sport (and sportsmen) will be. Until then, play nice and shoot straight!

About the author: Mr. Sattler is the former Director of Law Enforcement and Internet Sales, and previous Archival Records Manager for Olympic Arms, Inc. in Olympia, WA. He had been with the company for almost 9 years. He was also a former Reserve Deputy Sheriff in a small Southwest Washington county, but has since moved on to other employment.

[H.M. Murdock 0]

I believe that an unassembled pre-ban lower built into a rifle during the 1994 federal AWB could not have the pre-ban features. It would only be considered pre-ban if the rifle was built before that ban. But practically speaking it would be difficult for a prosecutor to prove that a pre-ban receiver was built post-ban with pre-ban features -- assuming you're not installing parts which contradict the unidirectional nature of time.

 

Regardless, prior to the federal AWB we already had a 1991 state AWB in effect. The pre-ban concept does not exist in our state law. Any firearms that were to become banned had to be registered by the owner within a very small window of time and the firearm died with the owner.

 

It is a safe bet that a newer state AWB bill written to expand on the existing state AWB would make your unassembled AR lowers useless in this state. The good news? I will buy them from you right now for cents on the dollar!

 

These hypothetical questions reek of defeatism which is contagious and only serves to lower morale. We have a big fight ahead of us, who the F cares about AR lowers?!

[Qel Hoth 33]

I'm not a lawyer, and it all depends on whether or not a new AWB passes (it shouldn't, if we don't let it), and how that AWB was written. But after some Googling, here's a link from Olympic Arms that should help...

 

http://www.olyarms.c...neral-questions

 

That would be the 1994 AWB. Nobody has yet seen the text of the (potential) 2013 AWB, therefore anyone who tries to answer his question is talking out of his or her arse.

[raz-0 1,259]

I, like many around the state, have been stocking up on lowers for a couple months.

 

My question is, let's say the feds or NJ passes an AWB that changes our rule from 2 "evil features" to 1.

 

If I already have an AR lower in my safe, can I still build out a rifle to current laws rather than new laws?

 

I better way of phrasing the question is, must a rifle be completed to be included in an grandfathering?

 

I guess there's now way of knowing when the rifle was completed since all you get for paperwork is on the lower.

 

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

Last AWB, if you didn't build the lower up before the ban to be a pre-band config, you were in theory breaking the law if you did so after the ban. How anyone went about proving such a thing either way was never really clear to me.