Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
We aren't laughing AT you, we're laughing WITH you...For the sake of those of us who might build both rifles and pistols, when is the original build considered a "pistol"? Let's say you have 5 brand new stripped lowers lying around and don't want to keep track of each one's history, so you decide to initially build each as a pistol.
When the pistol extension is attached to receiver is that enough? When the upper is attached? BCG? Magazine? Sights? Does it need to be "used" as a pistol (ie, fired) before it would be considered a pistol? Can one use the same parts for all 5 builds or does each require its own parts?
Yeah, it's about that dumb, trying to sort it out. No, there isn't a ruling that says you have to have gone and fired the thing in order for it to have "first been" a pistol. Or that it has to have sights, or a mag.
If you wanted to be REALLY REALLY secure, I guess you could complete each build and go fire a round through it on video while holding a copy of today's paper or something. But then how would that prove you didn't FIRST, secretly build it into a RIFLE in your basement?!?! Oooh! Maybe you'd better build it and shoot it with a notary and two witnesses?
Yeah...in the end this stuff gets pretty absurd. Like I said, there's what the ruling says, on one hand, and then there's what might actually be enforceable ... or worth bothering to try and enforce ... on the other.