Rep. Massie cites Constitution to slam Biden's upcoming 'ghost gun' rule: 'Congress makes laws'

because they're used in order to manipulate ignorant people into believing there's something different about a firearm that's arbitrarily called one of these things.

Using fear to manipulate people is very common and very old. This shouldn't be news to you.

It doesn't meet the definition of a firearm or at least a few years ago I didn't. Nothing changed.

Also it doesn't address this issue at all. The firms police recover that they call ghost guns aren't really guns that were made without a serial number they were guns that had the serial number removed this is not new.

Pretending this is all of a sudden a problem and hasn't existed since the 1970s is profoundly dishonest.

 

Thats an excellent point. Its insanely easy to grind the serial number off of a gun. With a power tool it takes seconds, without a power tool it might take minutes. Conflating the two sounds exactly like something the gun control lobby would do, both on purpose and/or out of sheer ignorance...

 

On a lot of guns the lower is polymer you can just get a hot knife and cut out the serial number plate bam ghost gun.

I have several pistols that have a lower that's made out of aluminum a tap tap tap with a chisel and throw that in a barbecue pit and it's gone.

 

Kits which include parts to assemble a firearm (minor tweaks needed), so how does that translate to "any metal parts".

Seems like a nothing burger to me, but if you dont like it, then so be it. Most criminals agree with you.

If you say so, but in most cases the number is recoverable. The fact remains that the kits have become very popular among criminals and that's what this thing is targeting.

 

Criminals arent interesting in retaining a nice finish on their firearms. They don't lightly sand it off taking care to remove as little material as possible. They'll use a grinding wheel, because its faster, and leave a deep gouge that does not retain any of the stressed metal for forensics. The video is utterly ridiculous. Its a method to remove the serial number while attempting to retain the weapons finish which literally NO ONE is interested in doing. There is no weapon that has a higher restoration value without its numbers... no one is trying to restore weapons by removing their serial numbers. That'd be like sanding the makers mark off of antique furniture or jewelry- its a very good way to make it worthless.

As to the parts- The ATF didn't require a serial number on 80% recievers because they were not necessarily going to become a firearm, they could be made into something else instead. Biden has decreed that 80% receivers must have a serial number. So now people are going to start selling 79% recievers. Suppose we require a serial number on thjose too, people will sell 78% receivers. The less finished the part that requires a serial number, the more in common it has with parts that are not gun parts. Eventually there will be car parts and washing machine parts and a whole litany of parts that will have to be numbered and tracked and background checked and unavailable for sale in certain states because they could be made into gun parts with a lot of extra work. Does that sound like a good idea to you?

 

Simple. Even after you assemble all the parts in the kit, you cannot use it to fire a bullet.
You know this, right?

 

Here, we have -4- 0% AR lowers.
OMG!!! Ghost guns!! Get a serial number on them!! Fast!!

 

Well, thats the whole topic here, isn't it. Depending on a kit, it becomes a fully functioning firearm in about 30 minutes, so a person can easily produce 20 firearms per day. That's why they want to add the SN on them.

 

And so, you agree -- what you buy in the kit is NOT a firearm.
This is why the kits are not considered firearms.
Your question, answered.

 

Well, thanks for the opportunity to explain you why they want the SNs on them. I suppose the reason was obvious anyway. In short: Since they are designed to become firearms, they will be considered as such in the future.

 

If congress passes a law re-defining firearms to include kits that, when assembled, create something that cannot fire a bullet - sure.

Until then, as a legal and practical matter, these kits are -not- firearms.

 

That’s essentially what Biden is doing

 

That's what he's trying to do.
"Firearm" is defined by law. He does not have the power to change the law.

 

They are objects which will require a serial number. Why play word games?

 

Unfortunately He does have that power. The courts recognized that Trump had that power when he changed definitions to include bumpstocks as machine guns. So if they recognized trumps power to do so why would they not recognize Biden’s power to do the same for another gun item?

 

At least one court overturned the bump stock ban, so it's not necessarily a given on this EO.

 

It still has not been overturned and I’m not arguing in favor of either so I sincerely hope both get thrown out. But if one goes, they both must go.

 

There is no need to change it because in legal terms a firearm does not refer only to funny functional guns.

The term “Firearm” means:

1. Any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive;
   
   
   The frame or receiver of any such weapon;
   Any destructive device.

 

Good people make them and politicians use such laws to turn good people into criminals. I love the Luty example. Criminals will always have guns.

BTW, the 80% lower does not take a machinist to finish. Any amateur with a drill press can make one.

 

I think you'd want more than a drill press if you were looking for a moderate chance of success. A jib and a router with the right bit will go a long way in your 80% journey.

 

Maybe an X Y axis clamp. The polymer lowers can be done using a hand drill and a wood chisel. A good lower costs about as much as the kit, so I wouldn't bother.

 

I have one of the recommended routers already, but with the cost of a decent jig and 80% lowers, it was easier and cheaper just to buy Aero Precision lowers.