A clerk in a gun shop told me a couple months ago he suspects as many as 80% of gun owners have probably broken a foreign parts or "features" law since this crap went into effect, and the general consensous is "you'll probably get nailed for it in addition to a more serious felony", meaning the chances of being nailed for an '89/'94 ban violation alone is pretty remote.  If anyone ever read "Surviving Doomsday" by Boston T. Party, he mentions "a decision has to be made when you refuse to abide by an unconstitutional law that has no meaning ('cause what are you gonna do when gun laws get REDICULOUSLY restrictive)" (to paraphrase).

Any thoughts on this?

No comment

i think the people that are probly dont know it i mean how many people check to c if thats a american part me i dont worry about that the only gun i got that i would have to worry about that i got pre 89

It is within your inalienable 2nd Amendment rights to own whatever you want wherever you want.

"To prohibit a citizen from wearing or carrying a war arm...is an unwarranted restriction upon the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.  If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not a general deprivation of constitutional privilege." [Wilson v. State, 33 Ark. 557, at 560, 34 Am. Rep. 52, at 54 (1878)]

Don't worry if you commit another serious felony and have your illegal AW on you or in your car, that gun charge will be the first thing plea bargained away.

80%.....probably a low estimate.

I seriously doubt 80% of gun owners even have a gun to which those laws would apply. The only guns that would violate the law are kinda new, six/seven years old. The number of guns sold by dealers since '94 that are now illegal is probably small. I have no doubt the vast majority of SKSs that have been modified have been done so illegally, however, the laws governing such are pretty wacky. We are a pretty concentrated group here, so it probably seems to us to be a common occurance, but in reality, the number of illegal guns, compared to the number of legal guns, is probably pretty small.

'fraid not, at least in the mid-west. I've seen (and bought) [b]many[/b] "illegal" firearms for sale at dealers and pawn shops on my Saturday shopping sprees.

Such as:

my '95 dated Maadi I'd bought with the folding stock from a gun shop.

an SKS from a pawn shop with a folding pistol grip stock, attached cruficix bayo, and a 30 round removable mag. (This is also the same pawn shop that ran a NICS for an antique I'd bought. "If it ain't black powder, it ain't antique" - sigh) I had them toss the magazine and put on the sales ticket "missing magazine". I also borrowed a screwdriver and pulled the bayo before picking it up off of the counter.

May have been over paranoid on that one, but what about the average schmoe that could have bought those weapons, ignorant of the laws, and been busted for a weapons violation?

The SU TRAC study of the BATF indicates that nearly all of their convictions are on so-called "technical" violations of the law.  To me, that sounds like telestock on a post-ban, etc.    

Are people doing it all the time though?  HELL YES they are.  Is the law unconstitutional?  HELL YES it is.  Is the constitution the law of the land anymore?  HELL NO it isn't.  

If the BATF or any other LEO agency wants to get you, they are going to get you.  You will be bankrupted in court defending yourself against their charges, if not just killed outright.  Our legal system is void of justice and most of our judges are anything but objective.  The recent 4th Amendment case over seatbelt laws in the Supreme Court proves that.

I'm waiting for the Emerson decision as well as the one about the Maadi Griffin guy who is trying to prove (and rightly so) that the BATF has no jurisdiction over him.  If he wins his case, you can go do just about whatever you want without fear of federal repurcussions.

Anyone want to wager that the BATF will win though?  We can't get an honest hearing on the matter, it would undermine the entire socialist house of cards that certain elements have been trying to build in this country.

The best way not to get caught is to build up from an 80% kit that you payed for cash & carry.  How the hell can they prove when you finished it?  80% kits are a recent phenomenon, but without a serial number or a NICS check, it is going to be hard, hard, hard to prove.

Can you give us a link or source for this particular read?

[sniper]
The Sniper

I'm guilty.  


And I'm not all that worried about it either.

I see it this way....big brother ok'd these parts to be shipped over into this country and sold, but now you cannot build a foreign firearm parts and build a rifle. But if you buy certain American made parts everything is cool.
Take perfectly good parts and replace them with american made parts.....hhmmmmm.
This is one law I don't understand.

Rick

Rick,
We are exploiting a loophole with the parts count.  The commies responsible screwed up.  Their intent was to prohibit the guns, and we all know what their eventual intent is...  

This book is available through Paladin Press at http://shop.paladin-press.com/Store/prodinfo.asp?prodid=3799

Interestingly, I purchased "Surviving Doomsday" from the Military Book Club a while back, but the text in it reflected the book in the link, "Boston on Surviving Y2K"--not sure where the mix-up occurred.

Anyway...I'm not sure now if that paraphrase is even accurate for the book; I may have actually read it elsewhere.  He DOES mention the Bushmaster M17 and how it has a threaded barrel (because of it's design) that "technically could accept a flash suppressor, though this is illegal--your call".  

Man, I just don't know...but I DO know probably no one here will come out and say, "Yeah, I have a telestock on my post-ban BM Shorty, and I threaded the muzzle and dropped on a Vortex, so ATF trolls, what the fuck you gonna do about it, huh?!?!?".

Most everyone in stores I've asked all say the same thing: busted in conjunction with another felony...don't ask/don't tell what you do with your guns...as long as you use it in a rural shooting location and not on a public range...what are the chances of an ATF agent coming out to your sand pit in BFE to check on you...ad naseum.

trickshot

Very well spoken!!  Can I get an AMEN??

AMEN

sgtar15

"The first one is expensive, the rest are free".  
       Henry Bowman

Time to feed the hogs!

Kyle

Hell, they say Marijuana is illegal, but as a cop I stumble over it all day long. Have you ever noticed every time a new gun law is passed the price goes up.