Quoted: "Essential Arms All are Pre-Ban as they went out of business in 1993. (DPMS bought them prior to the Ban)."

I know this came from the FAQ here, but neither of these statements is correct.

Essential Arms did get out of the AR15 lower business in 1993 (and sold their tooling to DPMS), over a year before the ban, and all of their lowers were indeed manufactured before the ban.  However, that's not what makes a gun pre-ban or not.  In order to be a pre-ban, a gun must have been in "assault weapon" configuration, and legally possessed, before the ban.

Well, no problem, because surely all Essential Arms rifles were configured as "assault weapons" before the ban, right?  WRONG.  Essential Arms sold only stripped lowers.  There is no such thing as a factory Essential Arms rifle.  Yes, there were LOTS of rifles built on Essential Arms lowers; in fact, Bushmaster, back when they were called Quality Parts, built all their rifles on Essential Arms lowers back before they made their own forged lowers.

BUT...  because there were no factory rifles, it is up to the person who possesses the rifle to prove that it was in AW configuration before the ban, or it isn't legally a pre-ban.  Now, if you bought the lower and built it yourself, and you possessed the rifle on 9/13/94, then no problem, because you can legally testify to the rifle's configuration.  On the other hand, if you bought the rifle after the enactment of the ban (9/13/94), you need some kind of proof to show the rifle's pre-ban status.  The proof could be an affidavit from the owner on 9/13/94, dated receipts, dated pictures, or anything else that would be admissible and hold up in court.

You should also know that there were lots of stripped Essential Arms lowers that sat unsold until the late 90's.  BATF could prove pretty easily that these lowers were first sold after the ban.  And unfortunately, there's no way to know if the one you are looking to buy is one of these or not (unless some proof comes along with the lower).

Yes, this totally sucks, and is completely BS, but that's the way it is.  Blame your senators & representatives and the folks who elected them.

Oh, and DPMS didn't buy Essential Arms (the company).  They only bought their tooling.  Otherwise, they are in no way related.

-Troy