quote:
Why would the way you hold your pistol make you a felon?
So every time i bump fire my M4 from my hip i am magicaly changing it to sub-gun ? Or if i hold my M4 off my shoulder and fire it , it becomes a pistol? This don't make sence to me? I have seen lots of pictures on this very web site of guys holding their pistol to their shoulders as long it has no buttstock on it.
Please let me know where you got this infromation and send me a copy so i can go to our local range and start arresting people and taking their guns from them. I need some new guns.
From 27CFR on the BATFE website:
Pistol. A weapon originally designed, made, and intended to fire a
projectile (bullet) from one or more barrels when held in one hand, and
having (a) a chamber(s) as an integral part(s) of, or permanently
aligned with, the bore(s); and (b) a short stock designed to be gripped
by one hand and at an angle to and extending below the line of the
bore(s).
Rifle. A weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended
to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or
remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed cartridge to fire
only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of
the trigger, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily
restored to fire a fixed cartridge.
If I am wrong, please correct me quickly!
I am fairly certain that when you put the pistol up against your shoulder, you are using it as a Short Barrel Rifle. By your action, you have shown it is now "intended" to be shoulder fired, but does not meet the 16" minimum barrel length for a rifle.
This pistol definition is also why you may not put a vertical foregrip on your AR pistol.
Unless you have paid the taxes to have a SBR and registered your pistol as such, you can be charged with an NFA violation.
You are allowed to use a rifle off the shoulder. It is still "intended" to be up against the shoulder by its design.
I believe T/C had to go to court over the interpretations of these definitions and SBR laws concerning the Contender pistol and the carbine conversion they offered for it.
As a note, anyone who posts a picture of themselves firing a pistol using an "improvised" shoulder stock is making a serious mistake, as they are providing evidence of a fedral crime.