A laymans guide to owning the AR15 type rifle in the state of New York
Or
Whats Legal, whats not and that squishy grey area in between
Part 1
Preface: In order to keep this simple, the assumption at least for now, will be that we are talking about AR15 rifles. Pistols and hybrids can be covered later.
Our definition of Ar15 rifle will be “ An ar15 type upper and lower reciever with detachable magazine, Pistol Grip, a barrel of at least 16 inches and a Buttstock.
Definitions:
Barrel length.
The barrel length is measured by placing a wooden dowel or other measuring device into the crown of the barrel and pushing it through until it contacts the face of the bolt (with the bolt closed). A mark can now be made where the dowel protrudes from the barrel crown or (permanently attached muzzle device). The dowel is now removed and measured from the end to the mark.
Permanently attached muzzle device.
A muzzle device is considered a permanent part of the barrel when.
It is seam welded in place, 1100 degree siver soldered in place or Blind pinned where the entry hole for the pin is welded over.
Evil features:
Evil features are parts of the rifle that by themselves are legal but in any combination of 2 classify the firearm as an assault weapon unless it was manufactured prior to Sept 13th 1994. This only applies to semi-automatic rifles with a detachable magazine.
(i) a folding or telescoping stock;
(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of
the weapon;
(iii) a bayonet mount;
(iv) a flash suppressor or threaded barrel designed to accommodate a
flash suppressor; (this does not apply to permanently attached muzzle devices as described above)
(v) a grenade launcher;
Since our AR15 already has a pistol grip, any one of these items in addition would classify it as an assault weapon making it illegal in New York State.
Magazines that have a capacity of more than 10 rounds are not legal in New York unless manufactured prior to Sept 13th 1994. This is a slippery area because most magazines manufactured prior to the assault weapons ban were not date stamped.
Other things to look out for are high capacity Magazines that were modified to only accept 10rds. While there is nothing specific in the law about this, if the modification can be reversed they can be called into question.
My opinion here is if there is any question, it’s better to not have them.
New York City has some additional restrictions that make it nearly impossible to own an AR15 (this will be covered later).
Ar15 Rifles Manufactured prior to sept 13th 1994 are not subject to these rules nor are non-semi autos.
There are literally hundreds of things we can legally do to Modify, Accurize and Personalize our Ar15’s knowing what is legal and what is not, will make it that much more enjoyable and hopefully save us from being harassed.
Here is a link to the NYS sight if you want to read the actual legal Jargon.
http://www.atf.gov/publications/download/p/atf-p-5300-5/atf-p-5300-5-new_york.pdf