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Posted on 04/11/2022 11:30:31 AM PDT by Yo-Yo
On April 11, 2022, the Attorney General signed ATF final rule 2021R-05F, Definition of “Frame or Receiver” and Identification of Firearms. The goal of the final rule is to ensure the proper marking, recordkeeping, and traceability of all firearms manufactured, imported, acquired and disposed by federal firearms licensees.
Please note that this is the text of the final rule as signed by the Attorney General, but the official version of the final rule will be as it is published in the Federal Register. The rule will go into effect 120 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register.
Download the final rule (PDF, 3.46 MB)
Summary
On April 11, 2022, the Attorney General signed ATF final rule, Definition of “Frame or Receiver” and Identification of Firearms, amending ATF’s regulations by removing and replacing the regulatory definitions of “firearm frame or receiver” and “frame or receiver” using examples and diagrams to clearly convey what is a “frame or receiver,” amending the definitions of “firearm” and “gunsmith,” providing definitions of terms such as “complete weapon,” “complete muffler or silencer device,” “privately made firearm” and “readily,” and amending regulations on marking and recordkeeping.
If I am reading this correctly, from now on AR platforms will have the upper receiver identified as the serialized part, NOT the lower. What a mess if I am right.
B. Definition of “Frame or receiver”The final rule accepts the recommendations of numerous commenters and provides a new definition to remove andreplace the terms “firearm frame or receiver” and “frame or receiver” in §§ 478.11 and 479.11 (referencing § 478.12). The new definition, set forth in a new § 478.12, separately defines “frame” for handguns, and “receiver” for rifles, shotguns, and other weapons that expel a projectile other than handguns. Rather than a definition that describes any housing for any fire control component, these definitions now describe only a single housing or structural component for one specific fire control component of a given weapon including “variants thereof,” a term that is also defined. For handguns, or variants thereof, it is the housing or structure for the primary energized component designed to hold back the hammer, striker, bolt, or similar component prior to initiation of the firing sequence (i.e., sear or equivalent), even if pins or other attachments are required to connect such component to the housing or structure. For rifles, shotguns, and projectile weapons other than handguns, or variants thereof, it is the housing or structure for the primary component designed to block or seal the breech prior to initiation of the firing sequence (i.e., bolt, breechblock, or equivalent), even if pins or other attachments are required to connect such component to the housing or structure.
It is the AR Upper Receiver that houses the bolt.
Ping.
This Ping List is for all things pertaining to infringes upon or victories for the 2nd Amendment.
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…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
I do not think my AR upper has a serial number. Is this new rule by fiat ‘law’ going to grandfather in all previous ARAs?
Page 309 of the PDF:
The final rule defines “variant” and more clearly grandfathers existing classifications (e.g., AR-15/M-16 variants).
It would appear that existing AR platforms are grandfathered with regards to serial numbering the upper vs. the lower.
However, if any changes are made, the new upper must be serialized.
i.e. what happens to the person that owns a single lower but has several uppers in different calibers? If he swaps the upper that is attached to the lower, then he has made modifications and the "new" upper must be serialized.
It appears it must. I do not think a requirement to serialize the uppers on 10 to 20 million firearms will fly.
Of course, this is a proposed rule. It is supposed to go through the proposed rule process.
That will take months, at minimum.
Demand for uppers will go through the roof with this proposed new rule.
Millions more will likely be sold while the rule process is ongoing.
You can build a usable firearm with a few dollars in parts from a hardware store, using 1950s zip gun technology. You can even find “how to” videos on the intereweb.
Solution in search of a problem. Look at so-called ‘ghost gun’ crime vs crimes by the animals and lunatics big city Dems refuse to lock up.
I am quite sure the gangs of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, NY City, Chicongo, LA and Oakland will automatically comply with this new law...............
478.12 (f)(1) Frame or receiver classifications based on which part of the weapon was classified as such before [FEDERAL REGISTER: PLEASE INSERT DATE OF PUBLICATION]. Except as provided in paragraph (2), the terms “frame” and “receiver” shall include the specific part of a complete weapon, including variants thereof, determined (classified) by the Director to be defined as a firearm frame or receiver prior to [FEDERAL REGISTER: PLEASE INSERT DATE OF PUBLICATION]. Any such part that is identified with an importer’s or manufacturer’s serial number shall be presumed, absent an official determination by the Director or other reliable evidence to the contrary, to be the frame or receiver of the weapon. The following is a nonexclusive list of such weapons and the specific part determined by the Director to be the firearm frame or receiver as they existed on that date:(i) AR-15/M-16 variant firearms: The receiver is the lower part of the weapon that provides housing for the trigger mechanism and hammer (i.e., lower receiver).
Can anybody decipher the above language to see if future AR platforms will also be "grandfathered" to have the lower receiver the serialized part, or if after the rule goes into effect all new manufactured AR uppers will need to be serialized?
Amending the definition of "gunsmith"? That's going to be my retirement occupation - and they're going to amend it?
They're trying to clarify when a gunsmith becomes a "manufacturer" requiring a manufacturer's license.
§ 478.11 Meaning of terms.(d)Gunsmith. A person who, as a service performed on existing firearms not for sale or distribution, devotes time, attention, and labor to repairing or customizing firearms, making or fitting special barrels, stocks, or trigger mechanisms to firearms, or placing marks of identification on privately made firearms in accordance with this part, as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit, but such term shall not include a person who occasionally repairs or customizes firearms (including identification), or occasionally makes or fits special barrels, stocks, or trigger mechanisms to firearms. In the case of firearms for purposes of sale or distribution, such term shall include a person who performs repairs (e.g., by replacing worn or broken parts) on complete weapons, or places marks of identification on privately made firearms, but shall not include a person who manufactures firearms (i.e., frames or receivers or complete weapons) by completion, assembly, or applying coatings, or otherwise making them suitable for use, requiring a license as a manufacturer.
I think you are right about that. For an AR the lower accepts the ammunition. Change that to where the bolt is carried then it is the upper that’s regulated. Here is an article on the subject:
And from that article:
“The only way to fix this is through new legislation. Congress alone can change federal law to define a frame or receiver in such a way that AR-15 rifles are covered. That’s why Attorney General Lynch wrote the letter she did back in 2016, suggesting a legislative fix. But Congress apparently shrugged that off.”
So the Obama administration wanted to correct the error in the law so the upper and not the lower is regulated. Apparently congress never got around to changing this. Now that Biden is in charge they just change the law without congress. After all, they have “experts” who are protecting our “precious democracy” (sarcasm).
“...infringed”
j-frames forever!
So they want to switch us over from FFL Type 1 to Type 5. Nice...
They say only a single part will be serialized:
"f. Moreover, “frame or receiver” will be defined to describe only a single part that provides housing or a structure for one specific, primary fire control component of weapons that expel a projectile, or one specific, primary internal sound reduction component of firearm mufflers or silencers"
They say the AR will be exempt from the new definition:
"The final rule also exempts from the new definitions and marking requirements existing split frame or receiver designs in which a part was previously classified by ATF as the firearm “frame or receiver” and provides examples and pictures of select exempted frames or receivers, such as AR-15/M-16 variant firearms"
Dear ATF,
Don’t you think you might have anything better to do?
Like, say, GOING AFTER ACTUAL CRIMINALS?
Please stop making things harder for those of us who don’t violate the law.
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