Quote:
Originally Posted by orfeo
Mrs_Esterhouse and aaronsdb:
Firstly, it was a VERY serious and knowledgeable woman at BATF, a man at a regional US Postal Center, and a woman at my local US Post Office. . . not just one person.
Secondly, we were NOT discussing the mailing or shipment of HANDGUNS or any other firearms. We were strictly discussing the mailing of handgun PARTS to a gunsmith for repair or lawful modification. . . specifically in particular, a handgun FRAME.
Third, I don't know if you've bothered to look at Bill Springfield's site or if you are just speaking in general terms, but Bill ONLY asks for the handgun FRAME. No slide assy, no barrel, no mags, etc. to do his trigger-job. Another service he offers requires only your recoil assy.
Are you guys saying it is also illegal to mail him your recoil assy without going through an FFL dealer? . . . or are you just saying it is illegal to ship/mail the actual handgun? If you are only talking about mailing or shipping a handgun, then yes, you are correct in saying it must go to an FFL dealer. It would need to go UPS or FedEx (overnight but not because of the law, but because of shipping company policies) and may not be mailed through the US Postal system unless the sender is also an FFL dealer.
Falcon007 pointed out that:
"Any person who is engaged in the business of installing “drop in” replacement parts in or on existing, fully assembled firearms as described in this ruling must be licensed as a dealer, which includes a gunsmith, under the Gun Control Act"
Bill is not working on fully assembled firearms. He is working on firearm parts.  |
Here's what I see as the big missing link in your argument, and the reason you received the answers that you did: When you asked the post office and BATF, did you explain that the recipient does not have an FFL? It sounds like you said you were sending them to a gunsmith, which is of course legal.
But it appears from this thread that Bill Springfield is not a gunsmith. A gunsmith must be licensed, usually an FFL type Type 01, a Title 1 dealer or gunsmith.
But I'm going to go to the ATF on this one myself. It would sure help me out if people could just mail their stripped USC receivers from out of state straight to me, instead of the FFL I've been using.
So I hope you're correct on this, I really, really do. But it appears to defy everything written in USC 18 and GCA68.
The crux of it all will be whether or not in this one case, they have decided that the serialized frame or receiver is not a firearm, when for all other instances, the frame or receiver IS the firearm. This is what concerns me, specifically the last paragraph:
http://www.atf.gov/pub/fire-explo_pu...c_sect1715.pdf