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Posted: 1/12/2026 4:20:11 PM EDT
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Was wandering through some FB Marketplace / Craigslist ads this week, saw a bunch of dudes with lasers offering to engrave SBRs and the like. Just private individuals, not FFL's. Similarly, there's a local jewelry shop that has been offering firearm engraving for years, very publicly. Trophy shops, same. But of course, the ATF's website has advised more lately: "Is a license needed to engage in the business of engraving, customizing, refinishing or repairing firearms?" "Yes. A person conducting such activities as a business is considered to be a gunsmith within the definition of a dealer." [18 U.S.C. 921(a)(11) and (21); 27 CFR 478.11] That's the quickie-web non-binding ATF talking there, whereas the law reads: 18 U.S.C. 921(d) "as applied to a dealer in firearms, as defined in section 921(a)(11)(B), a person who devotes time, attention, and labor to engaging in such activity as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit, but such term shall not include a person who makes occasional repairs of firearms, or who occasionally fits special barrels, stocks, or trigger mechanisms to firearms;" I saw a quote "The way ATF IOI explained it was that if it’s an occasional engraving (id say under one per month but that wasn’t defined) and the firearm doesn’t leave the owners possession an FFL is not needed. The owner needs to be on premises the entire time otherwise you are breaking the law." I was wondering how this all applies to an FFL 07/C2? Can a FFL manufacturer have an (non-FFL) individual with a laser engrave the FFL's unregistered tube (or, alternatively, a registered silencer) if the FFL is present and doesn't transfer possession of the item to the non-FFL? |
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In the case you described, doesn't matter if owner is FFL or not. As long as he's with the item the whole time, it's legal. As far as the jewelry and trophy shops go, IME first (at least the ones around here) are completely clueless about laws regarding guns. They require you to leave stuff overnight for them to do their engraving. They are NOT FFLs. Illegal, but they were clueless and disinterested in hearing it when I tried to explain it to them (women in each case) Second, (again, at least the ones around here) do NOT do NFA-legal engraving. As multiple places told me (after I visited them because they advertised gun engraving), all they can do is scratch the finish. They can't get the depth required for NFA/ATF-legal. That's why I ended up just buying my own fiber laser from OMGlaser.com Great machine, excellent service before and after the sale. I really should advertise on craigslist. I did put up an ad for engraving on FBMP and the cocksuckers terminated my account with the usual anonymous heavy hammer and no explanation as to why, other than the vague some unspecified thing "violated their terms" crap. And that was after the samples I posted were carefully cropped so it was just the engraving showing and you couldn't tell if it was on a gun, knife, or whatever. |
trobertson5-0 I wasn't put in jail for what I did. I was put in it for what I think. There were FBI agents posting in my threads. I've seen the discovery showing this.
LEFTISTS: ”Our violence is speech, your speech is violence!”
LEFTISTS: ”Our violence is speech, your speech is violence!”
| Most firearm engravers who do it for a living do have a gunsmith FFL, the others I believe have a gunsmith friend that they work under as part of the business. It's mostly ease of shipping under federal law, an individual is allowed to ship a firearm to a gunsmith, even one in another state, and the gunsmith is legally allowed to ship the gun directly back to the owner, without having any other FFL needed to do the transfer. |
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