Quoted:
correct. you can't build a rifle as a preban on a receiver that was never assembled into a complete preban rifle nefore the ban. well, you could, but it would not be legal.
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It really bothers me to see the same tired myths and fables being stupidly repeated over and over again by people who have no clue what they're talking about. But this erroneous info gets reposted here so many times that soon it starts being taken as the gospel. This is a particular sore spot with me because it interfered with some guns I was recently selling. When it came to my built up, pre-ban EA Co. lower, I was subjected to a parade of morons demanding things like notarized statements that I had purchased this lower new and built it up before the ban, etc. My EA, Co. receiver is a fully legal pre-ban, and these notarized statements have absolutely no legal value whatsoever, but that didn't stop several potential buyers from demanding them for some stupid reason.
Now listen carefully because I'm about to clue you in on how to determine whether a lower receiver is a pre-ban or not:
What makes a lower receiver a pre-ban is the ATF says it's a pre-ban. PERIOD!! END OF STORY!!!
This is what happened -
When the ban went into effect the ATF actually visited all the licensed lower receiver producers and got lists of all serials they've used in the past to create the Magic Pre-Ban Serial Number List, and also made a survey of any unbuilt lowers still in stock so those could be excluded from the list.
Now this is the important part - any unbuilt lowers that had already been shipped ("in the wild" so to speak) were deemed to be pre-bans. Current or out-of-business manufacturers, it doesn't matter. All these lowers are on the ATF's Magic Pre-Ban Serial Number List and are legally pre-ban guns.
All this talk about "the lower had to have been built in X configuration by X date, yadda yadda" is pure bullshit and nothing but the inane ramblings of the clueless hoards who lurk around boards like this. You see, that criteria is not for us to use, but rather for the ATF to determine what's a pre-ban. It's not for me to decide, it's not for 2minkey to decide, and it's not for KMT to decide. The decision rests solely with the ATF, and they've already made up the list.
Don't believe me? How about this - I send my old lower back to Olympic Arms and they "remanufacture" it for me, meaning they merely destroy it and stamp my serial on a brand new receiver. Now I own a lower receiver that was manufactured a week ago and has never been built, but it's still a legal pre-ban. Why? Because the ATF says it is, that's why.
Here's another example that applies to me directly - I own a Sendra lower that's a pre-ban because Sendra (like EA Co. and a few others) went out of business before the ban. Five or 6 years ago, I stripped it down and sent it out to be re-anodized because the finish was dinged up. Now it's sitting in my gun safe looking like it did when it was brand new and you could never tell it had been built up and fired in the past. Am I in trouble? Do I have to prove this pristene lower is actually used? No, I don't have to prove anything, because that Sendra is on the Magic Pre-Ban Serial Number List and it's still a legal pre-ban.
Ok, KMT - you have an Olympic lower that's listed on the ATF's Magic Pre-Ban Serial Number List, so it's a pre-ban. Period. Build it any way you want to, shoot it, have fun with it. Are you worried that it may [b]not[/b] be a pre-ban? That can [b]only[/b] happen if you contact the ATF and declare under penalty of perjury that you've never, ever built it up and ask them to please remove your serial number off the Magic List. And if you're going to do something that stupid, then you don't deserve to own guns in the first place. Now are you worried about whether it was built up before or not? How about this - isn't it possible that 10 or 12 years ago when you bought the lower, maybe you also bought a collapsible stock and screwed it onto the lower and that sat in the back of your closet for a few years? And then maybe a couple of years ago you removed it and sold the stock to some guy at a gun show? It happens all the time and is a very good case of reasonable doubt. And that's precisely why the ATF deemed with a wave of their administrative hand that all previously shipped lowers qualified as pre-bans.
So, if you have a lower and you want to see if it's a pre-ban, there's only one way. And that's to check and see if the serial number is listed on the ATF's Magic Pre-Ban Serial Number List. If it's there, it's a legal pre-ban, regardless of what some idiot on a bullitin board who has never even seen an ATF agent in real life before says.