Suppose, just for the sake of discussion, that I have on hand all of the parts necessary to build an AR-15, including the lower receiver and a 16" barrel. Now suppose that I had changed my mind and decided to build this thing as an SBR, and that I decided to wait until January to file a form 1 to avoid having to pay a $200 tax.

The question is, would I be putting myself in legal jeopardy by ordering and receiving a new barrel, say 14.5" in length, prior to submitting the Form 1? Say, to take advantage of a Black Friday sale?

If you haven't built it into a rifle and the receiver was transferred as a pistol or "other" on the 4473, then you can have all the parts on hand to build whatever. If you assemble a short barreled upper and attach it to a lower with a stock, that's a problem. If you have nothing but rifle lowers and a spare short barreled upper kicking around, they could get you for constructive intent. If you have nothing but parts, it would be a stretch.

Nobody is going to come looking anyways. Unless they search your home for something else that they have a warrant for, this isn't really a concern, especially not with the NFA changes going into effect after the first of the year. Oodles of people are preparing for what they're going to file for. Total non-issue in my mind.

Well, it's been said that as long as you don’t possess them along with a pallet of cocaine while trafficking in illegals, you have little to worry about.

Seriously though, if you have just one registered SBR, you can basically have all the SBR parts you want, as 'temporary modifications' are permitted. Just Sayin'...

And even simpler, if you have the ability to build a legal AR pistol and the facts would support that in what you have said then have any upper barrel length you want. That's a legal configuration for a pistol. The only possible catch in all of this is if you have turned the lower into a rifle previously. Then that's a problem.

Are you planning on being raided by ATF? Having the parts isn’t an issue in my mind. Sure there’s “if this and if that” situations…. but come on. Orders for parts are not traced. No one is going to know. If something is on sale then snatch it!

I think the odds are extraordinarly low for any issues, however my philosophy on this is to have some legal avenue to use parts that I have. Literally the only way that a prosecution could work would be to have no possible legal use for parts you own. In the case of an AR it is so trivial to not be in that situation why put yourself in that situation.

At this point it's just a collection of parts, nothing has been assembled. I don't have a copy of the 4473 and don't remember what the lower was transferred as, but I assume it was rifle. I have no interest in building a pistol, they just don't appeal to me. I do have other AR's though, including one that I built a while back, and the tools to do it.

I talked to a buddy of mine and he's going to order the barrel for me and just hang on to it until I get the paperwork in order.

Thanks everybody for your inputs!

I don't know if you want to continue this thread. But a couple of points. First what the 4473 has on it is not relevant if what you bought was a stripped lower. If it was an actual rifle it would matter but a stripped lower transfered as a rifle is a paperwork error by the FFL and not your issue (there is ATF guidance on this issue).
So if at this poiont you have a stripped lower that COULD be built as a pistol you can have all these parts shipped to you no issue. I know you say you don't want a pistol, but I would just build a pistol so you can use your short barrel parts and have fun while you wait for the SBR paperwork. Because just a guess when Jan 1 hits the wait time for a form 1 is probably going to be very, very long. like the good old days...
Or just chuck in $200 and get it done now...

quote:

I know you say you don't want a pistol, but I would just build a pistol so you can use your short barrel parts and have fun while you wait for the SBR paperwork. Because just a guess when Jan 1 hits the wait time for a form 1 is probably going to be very, very long. like the good old days...

Or just chuck in $200 and get it done now...

Agreed on all points.

TBH, there are so many good braces out there, there’s no reason to delay building it up as a pistol and enjoying it now, especially if it’s only a month or two to go to to get it SBR’d. I bought a DD PCC pistol a month ago, and I’m perfectly happy running it with a brace for a couple of months.

A few fine points-

Most of these posts come from two places. Fear of the unknown and/or curiosity of the practical application of the law.

To the first point, how or why would someone with federal enforcement powers be conducting a search to locate said parts.

To the second, constructive possession is a lot tougher to prove in fed court than it seems. With virtually all AUSAs steering away from them. Unless there’s a nexus to drug trafficking over 50 grams or a nexus to violent crime. Everyone always fears to the worst but the fact of the matter is that AUSAs have only a certain bandwidth. And if that bandwidth gets destroyed by a bunch of bad cases it affects the good cases. Despite what the internet has you to believe, the government does not have unlimited resources.

The government would have to prove that you had the intent to use the parts to make a short barreled rifle with the intent to avoid paying taxes on it. Unregistered SBRs are a tax violation.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Most of these posts come from two places. Fear of the unknown and/or curiosity of the practical application of the law.

An excellent point. As to your follow-on points, when I take a step back and think about it, they make perfect sense. Thank you, it helps. Unfortunately, over the last few years the ATF has shown less than stellar judgement regarding which violations it considers worthy of oh-dark-thirty no-knock raids. So forgive me for being maybe a little paranoid about it.

I'm in no great hurry other than getting the barrel ordered before the sale ends. So I'll do the paperwork in January and it can take as long as needed. In the meantime the barrel will just sit on my buddy's shelf. He's a .308 guy and doesn't own an AR, so he wouldn't have a problem in any case.

I would again urge you to just build a pistol and enjoy it while your F1 cooks.
But when the tax is 0 what are they going to charge you with?

The answer to the original question is no. Not now, not when Biden was president, not when Obama was president. Nobody gives a fuck if you own a short barrel and an AR receiver. Nobody is going to come too your house and kill your dogs.

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
Unfortunately, over the last few years the ATF has shown less than stellar judgement regarding which violations it considers worthy of oh-dark-thirty no-knock raids. So forgive me for being maybe a little paranoid about it.

Again, what behavior will you be engaging in to draw the attention of ATF? To the point a judge would authorize a search or arrest warrant?

Dont traffic in guns. Don’t sell dope. Don’t commit violent crimes.

Absolutely none. OK, I'm being stupid and overly paranoid. But the deed is done now, my friend ordered the barrel for me and will hold onto it until I get an approved form 1 back. Time to put this one to bed. Thanks again for all the input.

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
Absolutely none. OK, I'm being stupid and overly paranoid. But the deed is done now, my friend ordered the barrel for me and will hold onto it until I get an approved form 1 back. Time to put this one to bed. Thanks again for all the input.

This is what I did. I kept the barrel at my office. So the lower and barrel were never in the same place until the Form 1 came back. Call me paranoid. Just exercising extreme caution when it comes to the ATF.

I literally just got an approval email at the same time that UPS was delivering my short upper. Talk about exact timing!