Robert K. Merting - Attorney at Law
Trust Your Guns: A firearms, business, and ITAR knowledgeable law practice
About a year ago the shooting world started to observe an increase in ATF revocations of Federal Firearm Licensees (FFLs). This was no small increase, and revocations have skyrocketed around 500%. This coincided with the ATF’s release of a “Zero Tolerance” policy for certain paperwork mistakes. The net result: a lot of good intentioned gun Read More …
ATF’s Pistol Brace Rule (ATF 2021R-08F) has been out for a month now, and this has given me time to read the rule, digest the contents, ask questions, and determine a best path forward. Based on my best understanding, I offer the following to my clients. Paper Beats Electronic The ATF makes clear it desires Read More …
If you are digging into this article, I am assuming you have already read about ‘Privately Made Firearms’ and have a handle on what that term means. The question here, succinctly stated, is: Can a Privately Made Firearm be made from an existing serialized frame or receiver? I’m sure the instinctual answer is NO: “PMFs Read More …
Can you define a firearm “frame or receiver”? Do you think it is the “part of a firearm which provides housing for the hammer, bolt or breechblock, and firing mechanism, and which is usually threaded at its forward portion to receive the barrel”? 27 CFR § 478.11. If you answered yes, then a strict construction. . . Read More …
If you read the subject line and thought: “Duh, the lower, we’ve known that since the 60s.” you want to read on. Yes, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has held for years that the lower ‘receiver’ is just that, the receiver of the AR-15 rifle. However, in a recent criminal defense, Read More …