Pinning responsability

[unknown]

Hello,

I understand that a 14.5" barrel has to have a permanently attached a muzzle to make it 16" legal. I have a 13.7 and plan on using a kx3, but I am not sure if I am ready to commit to the set up.

My question is, at what point during my rifle build would the KX3 have to be pinned in order to be legal? I dont want to be the clueless guy who abuses his rights and privileges.

Thank you for your thoughts

[Steelslinger]

I would assume it would be at the moment it was assembled and functioned as a firearm. i.e. once it becomes a gun and not a pile of parts.

Otherwise, the moment just before you get caught...lol.

[LumberZach]

I would say as soon as the barrel goes on the receiver put the gas block on, and immediately after that get the barrel pinned and welded. As far as I have read there is no definitive time, but you don't want to flirt with the law here. If you build it as described, do everything at once. Don't just build it as you have time, but get it all done.

[loose]

From what I understand it would be before it goes on a rifle lower.

[UnaStamus]

If the upper is functional and can readily be equipped on a lower receiver, whether it actually is attached or not, it needs to be in compliance with NFA laws. That means that if you have the upper in your house, and you have a lower in your house, and both are functional, that upper needs to be pinned/welded. If you by chance had the upper but no lower in your home you would theoretically have time until you get a lower to get it done. However, if you have the upper assembled, it does not matter what lower is in your possession. If it (upper) can be readily mated to the rifle, it needs to be in compliance.

My advice- as soon as you assemble the upper, attach the KX3.

[FJ540]

With a pistol lower, you'd never have to pin it. The only time it needs to be permanently attached is when assembled to a non-SBR lower.

You can have a non-SBR lower and a pistol upper in each hand respectively and be in violation of nothing. Constructive intent is a mythical charge which would fall flat in court no differently than trying to get a refund for buying a used unicorn.

[unknown]

My lower is finished and has a rifle stock. I have a stripped upper, the barrel and the kx3. So not a functional upper.

So FJ540 what you are saying is if I had a pistol lower that the upper with the unpinned kx3 is attached to, I would not have to worry too much about having a rifle lower laying around?

[UnaStamus]

If you had a pistol lower, you would not have any NFA issues with any length upper configuration since with a pistol, the minimum 16" barrel length is not applicable.

~99.8% of the NFA stuff that occurs beyond the paperwork never gets checked on. That estimate would likely be even lower if people would just stop posting sketchy NFA related activities on internet forums and youtube.

Unfortunately, a lot of NFA-related investigations result from other related and unrelated incidents. Several years ago I was involved in a joint investigation with the BATFE where it ended with a guy getting numerous NFA federal charges, and the initial investigation wasn't even firearm related.
As another example, all it would take is an Order For Protection to be filed against you to have all of your guns banned from your possession. That order is immediately enforcible upon service, and if you can't immediately offload the guns to someone else's custody, they could be siezed by LE. I've actually had to do this after a woman got a Domestic Assault No Contact Order against her husband. All it takes is something like that and then next thing you know, LE is making a call to the BATFE field office in St Paul asking questions like "is this rifle legal?"
I've been to gun ranges like Bill's and had regular people challenge me about the legality of my SBRs. All it takes is one of those idiots to "tip off" the BATFE to give you a headache.

Is is likely to happen? No. This isn't meant to scare either. There isn't going to be some magic alarm that goes off the instant that the upper gets within close proximity of a lower, and we all know this. It's just a point of perspective regarding how a relatively minor expense can eliminate any possibililty of any problems later on. If you are intending to put the upper on a rifle lower receiver, just go ahead and do what you need to do right way and get it out of the way. There's really no point in delaying. The philosophy to be "better safe than sorry" aptly sums it up.

[FJ540]

If you had a pistol lower, you could shoot the upper on it without your MD pinned.

Since you're not planning on shooting it as a SBR, you should just get it pinned when you're able to fit the barrel to the upper (when you have the correct barrel nut).

Otherwise, as was mentioned, merely having the stuff to assemble an SBR, which is not assembled into an SBR, isn't grounds for the feds to swoop in and lock you up for 10 years.

Frankly, the only time you could even have a case for "constructive intent" would be if you were being busted for a bank job or kidnapping and managed to disassemble the upper from the lower prior to being put in cuffs.

[FJ540]

Something else to consider here: I have two pipe caps, I have threaded pipe which fits said caps, I own several machines capable of drilling a hole in those pipe caps, and I have several pounds of gun powder all within eye shot within the same room. Am I in constructive intent of making a pipe bomb?

Fear of the consequences are the intention of those laws. They don't need to bust you for breaking them, as long as most people are too afraid to get near the subject, the law has worked as designed.