Posted: 12/18/2012 6:42:11 AM EDT
| I was curious about the last big assault weapons ban. I know that you could not buy a fully assembled AR15. However, if you already owned a lower, were you allowed to buy uppers and other parts? I ask because the lower is the only portion that requires a FFL to purchase. What about repair parts such as firing pins, bolts, etc? |
You could too buy a fully assembled AR 15. Except it could not have a combination of "evil" features (cosmetic ban). Sure, some firearms were banned by name only, but there were so many other semis out there, that the ban really didn't ban anything. I bought an SAR 1 (couldn't be called an AK-47) during the ban.....30 round mag, pistol grip, only it didn't have a threaded barrel and the edges of the bayo loug was shaved.
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Quoted:
I was curious about the last big assault weapons ban. I know that you could not buy a fully assembled AR15. However, if you already owned a lower, were you allowed to buy uppers and other parts? I ask because the lower is the only portion that requires a FFL to purchase. What about repair parts such as firing pins, bolts, etc? The Brady Bill has nothing to do with the 1994 Crime Bill/AWB All parts were freely available. |
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Quoted: I was curious about the last big assault weapons ban. I know that you could not buy a fully assembled AR15. However, if you already owned a lower, were you allowed to buy uppers and other parts? I ask because the lower is the only portion that requires a FFL to purchase. What about repair parts such as firing pins, bolts, etc? That's why the whole bullshit of stockpiling unbuilt lower receivers is bullshit. During the 1994-2004 AWB, to build an AR-15 lower receiver (legally) into "pre ban" configuration, it had to have actually been a rifle / carbine in pre ban configuration before the effective date of the AWB. Otherwise, it had to be built in AWB-compliant configuration. So, you could take a pre-ban in A2 rifle configuration and rebuild it as an M4gery. complete with flash suppressor, bayonet lug, etc. - but if you took a pre-1994 AR-15 receiver that had never been a complete firearm before the effective date of the AWB, it couldn't have all 5 evil features. So to get a pistol grip and detachable magazine, you had to give up the threaded muzzle, flash suppressor and bayonet lug. Did people ignore this? Yes. So if you have a safe bull of unbuilt lowers hoping you can build them into rifles or carbines later, you'd better get to work NOW if you think AWB II is coming. |
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I was curious about the last big assault weapons ban. I know that you could not buy a fully assembled AR15. However, if you already owned a lower, were you allowed to buy uppers and other parts? I ask because the lower is the only portion that requires a FFL to purchase. What about repair parts such as firing pins, bolts, etc? That's why the whole bullshit of stockpiling unbuilt lower receivers is bullshit. During the 1994-2004 AWB, to build an AR-15 lower receiver (legally) into "pre ban" configuration, it had to have actually been a rifle / carbine in pre ban configuration before the effective date of the AWB. Otherwise, it had to be built in AWB-compliant configuration. So, you could take a pre-ban in A2 rifle configuration and rebuild it as an M4gery. complete with flash suppressor, bayonet lug, etc. - but if you took a pre-1994 AR-15 receiver that had never been a complete firearm before the effective date of the AWB, it couldn't have all 5 evil features. So to get a pistol grip and detachable magazine, you had to give up the threaded muzzle, flash suppressor and bayonet lug. Did people ignore this? Yes. So if you have a safe bull of unbuilt lowers hoping you can build them into rifles or carbines later, you'd better get to work NOW if you think AWB II is coming. Exactly. You needed a fully assembled rifle prior to the implementation date. Having 500 stripped lowers meant nothing unless they were somehow certified as being completed rifles before the ban went into effect. Look up 'purple' Bushmasters. |
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Ok, so for yet another person here who was not really aware of much during the last AWB (I was 8 at the time)... How are you supposed to certify that your rifle is "complete?" My understanding has always been that the lower receiver has counted as a complete firearm, despite the fact that it's a hunk of metal. Where's the cutoff between AWB compliant and unfinished? Could you have just built out lowers and then thrown one upper on for two weeks at a time and called it complete? For the record, I realize the answers to all of these questions may be: "Exactly. That's why this was really dumb." In fact, I expect that. Just trying to see if there was some vetting process I was unaware of before.
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I was curious about the last big assault weapons ban. I know that you could not buy a fully assembled AR15. However, if you already owned a lower, were you allowed to buy uppers and other parts? I ask because the lower is the only portion that requires a FFL to purchase. What about repair parts such as firing pins, bolts, etc? That's why the whole bullshit of stockpiling unbuilt lower receivers is bullshit. During the 1994-2004 AWB, to build an AR-15 lower receiver (legally) into "pre ban" configuration, it had to have actually been a rifle / carbine in pre ban configuration before the effective date of the AWB. Otherwise, it had to be built in AWB-compliant configuration. So, you could take a pre-ban in A2 rifle configuration and rebuild it as an M4gery. complete with flash suppressor, bayonet lug, etc. - but if you took a pre-1994 AR-15 receiver that had never been a complete firearm before the effective date of the AWB, it couldn't have all 5 evil features. So to get a pistol grip and detachable magazine, you had to give up the threaded muzzle, flash suppressor and bayonet lug. Did people ignore this? Yes. So if you have a safe bull of unbuilt lowers hoping you can build them into rifles or carbines later, you'd better get to work NOW if you think AWB II is coming. I'd like to see the evidence for this. A preban lower was a preban lower. Even if what you say is codified somewhere, there is no way to prove that it hadn't been previously assembled. |
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Ok, so for yet another person here who was not really aware of much during the last AWB (I was 8 at the time)... How are you supposed to certify that your rifle is "complete?" My understanding has always been that the lower receiver has counted as a complete firearm, despite the fact that it's a hunk of metal. Where's the cutoff between AWB compliant and unfinished? Could you have just built out lowers and then thrown one upper on for two weeks at a time and called it complete? For the record, I realize the answers to all of these questions may be: "Exactly. That's why this was really dumb." In fact, I expect that. Just trying to see if there was some vetting process I was unaware of before. No. Burden of proof lies on the accuser. Not that it mattered, anyway. The law was pretty much meaningless and hardly ever enforced. The biggest danger was those among our own ranks that were the first to point and scream "Is that pre-ban!?!?!?!" No one else actually cared about owners. Gun shops on the other hand, always got reamed. But that happens now for a multitude of merit-less accusations. Thus is the way of the ATF. |
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I was curious about the last big assault weapons ban. I know that you could not buy a fully assembled AR15. However, if you already owned a lower, were you allowed to buy uppers and other parts? I ask because the lower is the only portion that requires a FFL to purchase. What about repair parts such as firing pins, bolts, etc? That's why the whole bullshit of stockpiling unbuilt lower receivers is bullshit. During the 1994-2004 AWB, to build an AR-15 lower receiver (legally) into "pre ban" configuration, it had to have actually been a rifle / carbine in pre ban configuration before the effective date of the AWB. Otherwise, it had to be built in AWB-compliant configuration. So, you could take a pre-ban in A2 rifle configuration and rebuild it as an M4gery. complete with flash suppressor, bayonet lug, etc. - but if you took a pre-1994 AR-15 receiver that had never been a complete firearm before the effective date of the AWB, it couldn't have all 5 evil features. So to get a pistol grip and detachable magazine, you had to give up the threaded muzzle, flash suppressor and bayonet lug. Did people ignore this? Yes. So if you have a safe bull of unbuilt lowers hoping you can build them into rifles or carbines later, you'd better get to work NOW if you think AWB II is coming. I'd like to see the evidence for this. A preban lower was a preban lower. Even if what you say is codified somewhere, there is no way to prove that it hadn't been previously assembled. This is another reason why the last AWB was a joke. Most of the parts inculded in the legislation were virtually unenforceable. Just like today, when you buy a firearm, there was no picture of the firearm taken, so no one would know exactly what configuration the firearm was in at the time. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I was curious about the last big assault weapons ban. I know that you could not buy a fully assembled AR15. However, if you already owned a lower, were you allowed to buy uppers and other parts? I ask because the lower is the only portion that requires a FFL to purchase. What about repair parts such as firing pins, bolts, etc? That's why the whole bullshit of stockpiling unbuilt lower receivers is bullshit. During the 1994-2004 AWB, to build an AR-15 lower receiver (legally) into "pre ban" configuration, it had to have actually been a rifle / carbine in pre ban configuration before the effective date of the AWB. Otherwise, it had to be built in AWB-compliant configuration. So, you could take a pre-ban in A2 rifle configuration and rebuild it as an M4gery. complete with flash suppressor, bayonet lug, etc. - but if you took a pre-1994 AR-15 receiver that had never been a complete firearm before the effective date of the AWB, it couldn't have all 5 evil features. So to get a pistol grip and detachable magazine, you had to give up the threaded muzzle, flash suppressor and bayonet lug. Did people ignore this? Yes. So if you have a safe bull of unbuilt lowers hoping you can build them into rifles or carbines later, you'd better get to work NOW if you think AWB II is coming. I'd like to see the evidence for this. A preban lower was a preban lower. Even if what you say is codified somewhere, there is no way to prove that it hadn't been previously assembled. This was BATFE's interpretation as in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a) and 27 CFR § 178.40 (no longer valid law / implementing regulation). The manufacturers had lists available of what shipped when (prior to 1 Oct 1993 for so-called pre-bans) as per the regulation, so if there was a question as to whether a firearm had been a pre-ban firem prior to 1 Oct 1993 BATFE could - but never did, apperently - check). In 18 U.S.C. § 921(a) the definition of a "semiautomatic assault weapon" did not include the words 'or frame / receiver' or any language like that. (B) a semiautomatic rifle that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of- (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; and (v) a grenade launcher; So while BATFE tells us the "frame or receiver" is the firearm, the actual definition in the law stated "a semiautomatic rifle". - a frame or receiver is not a "rifle' until it is assembled into such. This is what James Bardwell said at the time: Thus an AR-15 type rifle with only one feature is OK. And an AR-15 stripped receiver only, although defined as a "firearm" by the Gun Control Act (18 U.S.C. section 921(a)(3)(B)), is not a "semiautomatic assault weapon" until it has two or more of the listed features. Having the gun be complete as to parts, but unassembled will also meet the criteria to be a "semi-automatic assault weapon" and either grandfather the gun, if done before the law took effect, or if after, get the owner in trouble. And if it is made into such an item, after the effective date of the law, by adding the two or more of the listed features to it, it must be marked in accordance with section 923(i), and it is illegal for a civilian to possess it, or to make it. As a practical matter, if the stripped receiver was made before the law took effect it will be hard for BATF to prove when it was assembled, before or after the ban. However BATF did their annual compliance inspections at a number of AR rifle and receiver makers right after the ban became law, to record the serial numbers of ungrandfathered stripped receivers they had in inventory, even though they were made before the law took effect. |