NFA rules question

[packman]

can a persons own a barrel under 16" if it is just the barrel bare and not to an upper receiver? just wondering i have considered buying one to have in the safe

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[elcid11]

can a persons own a barrel under 16" if it is just the barrel bare and not to an upper receiver? just wondering i have considered buying one to have in the safe

Ah a topic of much debate.

As long as there is no "constructive Intent" you are able to own an NFA part, and not be in violation.

The issue is,

You have the barrel, which you chould put into an AR that you also have, that is where it gets tricky.

I understand that it is not in an upper receiver, but the ATF I am sure will have an issue with it.

Your best bet is to call your local ATF office and ask them and get the answer directly from them.

But as it stands now, I would say....be careful if you have an AR and a short barrel.

 

[PhilipPeake]

Unfortunately, the local BATFE office is unlikely to be much help. At best you will get an opinion. Opinions are not binding.

IMHO (which is worth nothing), a bare barrel is less likely to be an issue than a complete upper.

I suppose one way to look at this is how often do BATFE officials come and peruse the contents of your safe? How often to they do this to anyone you know?

Most people that get into hot water for this sort of thing tend to get there as a result of some other issue. The NFA violation is just thrown in for good measure.

Personally, I would suggest getting a spare lower, registering it as a SBR and dropping it in the safe.

Of course, even this won't fully protect you - after all, you could take the upper from your SBR and drop it on your non SBT lower, couldn't you?

Gets even more interesting if you have only one SBR lower but several uppers (and at least one none-SBR lower).