I have looked at many sites including Federal and State, I cannot find laws governing specific barrel lengths.
I am putting together an AR9 with a 7 inch barrel, my understanding is I use a brace and not an actual rifle stock and that makes everything legal, right?
Thanks
Yes, no butt stock and it will be legal. The ATF site does have information on definitions of firearm designations. I am on my iPhone, so getting you the specific ATF page is not easily done. However, SBRs are defined as a rifle with a barrel of less than 16”. A handgun is defined as a firearm designed to be fired with one hand, barrel length is not relevant. You should able to find the information you are looking for on the ATF site. If you search my posts on SBR or ATF, you should also find the relevant information and ATF pages as I have posted this more than once.
Yes, make sure you understand what you can, and cannot, do with that build. Do not put a fore grip on it, as that makes it an SBR (tax stamp), and not a pistol.
Slight correction/clarification; do not put a VERTICAL fore grip on it. Angled fore grips are OK.
With a 7" tube you should not run into Over All Length (OAL) issues as it is measured from the muzzle (not the flash hider/suppressor) to the end of the buffer tube (not the brace) and must be less than 26" of OAL. 10 1/2" is about as long as you can go and stay legal on an AR platform with a standard buffer tube.
Cheers,
Craig6
Which state? How long would that rifle barrel be again, seven inches, or 17"?
Rifle that can use actual stock and vertical forgrip, 16" or greater barrel length.
Shorter than 16", brace or bare tube, no vertical grip.
If your lower was registered or ever been built as a rifle, you can not build a pistol with it. Brush up on the laws.
All my lowers except the one that came on my AR556, are registered as lowers so they can be used as pistol or rifle…
@Tony45 you are correct, Brace is good.
Thank you all for your feedback, never thought about the ATF site, good idea.
@Tony45 You will get a lot of help here but I STRONGLY encourage you to hunt down the rules and ATFE proclamations for the mods that you will be making. There were several very good threads here that I don’t recall the names of (@Zavier_D ) that went ALL the way down the road of providing links to ATFE letters of approval and such. I have found it prudent to keep copies of the ATFE ruling letters in the case with my pistol AR as it looks a whole lot like an SBR just in case Barney Fife decides to get frisky I can talk him down with paper as opposed to a lawyer.
On the topic of a receiver being “registered” as a rifle or a pistol for unassembled receivers most shops have gone away from designating them on the 4473 as either/or and list them as multi or other. The rule of law says that once a machine gun always a machine gun and once a pistol always a pistol and a rifle can become a pistol only once and then refer to step two. The real rub comes in with being in possession of an AR pistol and an AR rifle at the same time in that you “Could be” in constructive possession of an SBR. I and a friend who learned the lesson first hand keep our AR pistols in a designated case where only pistol parts go and rifles go in their own case. You are still in constructive possession but you have given full due diligence to keeping them separate. Do NOT show up to the range with an AR rifle complete, a brace and a pistol upper and think you are good.
Cheers,
Craig6
While angled foregrips are legit for pistols currently, remember that the ATF put out a statement that basically says they’re going to look for anything that looks like you’re trying to operate it with two hands (grips of any sort, magnified optics, lights, etc).
While they took the statement down, i fully expect them to keep going by those standards. Plus they released a list of “approved” braces, there’s a bunch of braces that the ATF considers to be butt stocks instead.
Just operate under the assumption that they will show up to kill your dog, wife and children if you don’t fall in line. (Yes I’m one of those people that want to see the entire bureau dissolved and i will incessantly hurl insult after insult at such an unconstitutional organization).
As Craig6 stated above, some pistol brace manufacturers post a link to a PDF of the ATF acceptance letter for that specific model. Might not be a bad thing to print out and throw in the vault.