Legally owning a GSG-5 Pistol and GSG-5 Rifle

[nwilliams]

A friend of mine was telling me the other day that it is illegal to own a GSG-5 pistol and a GSG-5 rifle if you don't have a SBR permit? He said that because he owns both the rifle and the pistol he has little choice now but to get the paperwork filed so he can legally own both. According to him the fact that you can take the stock off the GSG-5 rifle and put it on the pistol and turn the pistol into an SBR it makes it illegal to own both.

Is there any truth to this or is my friend panicking himself for no reason?

Since the GSG-5 pistol and GSG-5 rifle are completely interchangeable wouldn't he be right in his thinking?

 

[MisterPX]

Because you have both, it's near impossible to prove constructive intent, as it it would be if you had a just a short barrel and the rifle gsg5.

Basically, your freind is freakin out over nothing.

 

[nalioth]

Because you have both, it's near impossible to prove constructive intent, as it it would be if you had a just a short barrel and the rifle gsg5.

Does your 'friend' get equally upset at owning socks and bars of soap?

 

[nwilliams]

Basically, your friend is freakin out over nothing.

That's what I figured but he seemed pretty convinced so I just thought I'd check.

 

[SHvar]

Having both cannot be illegal, but the act of converting the pistol is illegal without the tax stamp.

 

[Tom488]

Just like owning a shotgun with an 18" barrel, and owning a hacksaw is illegal, right?

 

[danbrew]

Your friend is talking about constructive posession. While owning the rifle version would offer a defense, ATF has flip/flopped on this issue in the past. I'm too lazy to go out and find the relevant decisions, but go take a peek at the James Bardwell FAQ - there are a few letters to/fro ATF on this very issue.

You'd be having an exceptionally bad day if a prosecutor ever came down on you for this - but that's what they do. And sometimes people have bad days. As a long time (nearly 15 years) machinegunner, I'd pass on owning both at the same time. While I think it highly unlikely that you would ever come to the attention of the ATF, stranger things have happened. I thought my Class III items were safe in a safety deposit box until the bank drilled the boxes for non-payment (their records were screwed up and everything was paid on time) and turned over all my stuff to ATF. It was a pain getting it back. So... unlikely stuff does happen.

I'm whistle clean. No ambiguity at all about what I own. And while I don't invite ATF or law enforcement into my home to prove it, I could prove it if I somehow found somebody sniffing through my collection. There's nothing - nothing - that could get me in hot water. The situation described above *could* get someone in hot water.

My two cents.