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Pre-Ban? I need help
impoobah
Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
What does Pre-ban mean[?]
How are new guns manufactured Post-Ban[?]
How are new guns manufactured Post-Ban[?]
Comments
Preban is any firearm made before 1994, any one made after that is a post ban firearm.....such as the AR rifles...preban they have a bayonet lug and flash hider, the post ban do not have them on it, you can also check by serial number on the firearm, or call the manufacturer, and the will let you know.
DO RIGHT GUNSMITH, INC.
Bayonet lug
protruding pistol grip
flash-hider
(there were a couple more).
Not all guns are manfactured to the "post-ban" rules, some are made for law enforcement, while others are made elsewhere, are just like they were before 1994, they are just not allowed to be imported.
Bayo lug, flash hider, pistol grip, thumb hole stock, folding stock,etc. etc. ad nausium.
Good Luck
Hawk
I would rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6!
Folding or telescopic stock
Pistol grip protruding conspicuously beneath the stock
Bayonet mount
Flash suppressor or threaded barrel
Grenade launcher
Civilian modification of current production guns to preban configuration, by the addition of flash hiders, bayonet lugs, etc is also illegal. The good news is that the ban will expire after 10 years, which is to say, on Sept 13 2004. The only way for the ban to continue in effect is for it to be passed as a new law, starting from scratch. It would have to be hammered out in commitees, passed by the house, and Senate, and have the President sign it. This is posible, but highly unlikely. This will be less than two months before the elections, and NO ONE will want to open this can of worms at that time. The democratic party is still smarting from the 94 election backlash, and wants no repitition. Bush has waffled somewhat on the issue, but it is unlikey to get as far as his desk. For a really good information source on the ban, try:
http://www.awbansunset.com
Hope this helps.
Boomer
quote:Pre-Ban or Post-Ban: More Than Just A Date
By Corey Sattler (Webmanager@olyarms.com)
So you want to know if you have a pre-ban or a post-ban receiver. You are not alone! This is one of the most often asked questions I receive each day. Even dealers don't know sometimes, and they sell firearms for a living! For that matter, I have talked to people who asked their local BATF agents what the determining factors are, and the agents were giving incorrect information! So what are the determining factors? Read on my friends...
A few years ago, our government passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, more commonly known as the 1994 Crime Bill. This law "restricts the manufacture, transfer, and possession of certain 'Semiautomatic Assault Weapons'." (AN OXYMORON IN ITSELF, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT PREACHING TO THE CHOIR.) So what, you say, is a "Semiautomatic Assault Weapon"? The law (Section 921 (a) (30), Title 18 U.S.C.) defines it as so:
Any of the firearms, or copies or duplicates of the firearms in any caliber, known as;
Norinco, Mitchell, Poly Technologies, Avtomat Kalashinikovs.
Action Arms Israeli Military Industries UZI, Galil.
Beretta Ar70 (SC-70).
Colt AR-15
Fabrique National FN/FAL, FN/LAR, FNC.
SWD M-10, M-11, M-11-9, M-12.
Steyr AUG.
Intratec TEC-9, TEC-DC9, TEC-22.
Revolving cylinder shotguns, such as (or similar to) the Street Sweeper and Striker 12.
Any semiautomatic rifle that has the ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of the following features:
a folding or telescoping stock.
a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon.
a bayonet mount.
a flash suppressor or a threaded barrel designed to accommodate a flash suppressor.
a grenade launcher.
A semiautomatic pistol that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of the following features:
an ammunition magazine that attaches to the pistol outside of the pistol grip.
a threaded barrel capable of accepting a barrel extender, flash suppressor, forward handgrip or silencer.
a shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles the barrel and that permits the shooter to hold the firearm with the non-trigger hand without being burned.
a manufactured weight of 50 ounces or more when the pistol is unloaded.
a semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm.
A semiautomatic shotgun that has at least 2 of the following features:
a folding or telescoping stock.
a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon.
a fixed magazine capacity in excess of 5 rounds.
an ability to accept a detachable magazine.
Now we all know that some of the features are already regulated by previous laws (E.G. GRENADE LAUNCHERS - THESE WERE CLASSIFIED AS "DESTRUCTIVE DEVICES" ALREADY), and some of them make no real impact in the "war against crime", but there they are.
Now you know what a Semiautomatic Assault Weapon (SAW) is, but how do you determine what it is you have or what you can legally buy or make? What is "pre-ban?" What it all boils down to is when the GUN was built. Edward M. Owen, Jr., Chief of the Firearms Technology Branch of the BATF, has this to say:
"Semiautomatic pistols and rifles assembled after September 13, 1994, and possessing two or more of the features listed in [Section 921 (a) (30), Title 18 U.S.C.] are semiautomatic assault weapons as defined. The fact that the receiver may have been manufactured prior to September 13, 1994, is immaterial to classification of a weapon as a semiautomatic assault weapon. Additionally, payment or non-payment of excise tax is also immaterial to classification of a firearm as semiautomatic assault weapon."
What he is stating is, as far as pre-ban and post-ban is concerned, the date of manufacture of the receiver has nothing to do with anything. If your SAW was built into a whole SAW, or in a complete kit form, before Sept. 13, 1994 (The Date), you are the lucky owner of a pre-ban receiver. If the gun was built after this date, or if the receiver was without all of the parts to make a SAW as of The Date, then it is post-ban. Let me give you a few examples...
John Q. Public bought himself an AR-15 receiver in 1988 and put it in his safe. In April 1997, he decided to build it into a rifle. Was it a gun before The Date? No... so he has to build it into a POST-ban firearm.
Mary Mary Quite Contrary buys an AR-15 lower from her dealer who purchased it 7 years ago, built it into a SAW 2 weeks later, and in January '96 tore it apart to sell as components. Did she buy a pre-ban receiver? Yes... it was a SAW before The Date.
Big Bob Bopper finds a respectable dealer at a gun show who is selling "pre-ban AR pistol lowers." The dealer says he bought them before "the Ban" and registered them as pistol lowers, but never built them into anything. Are they pre-ban? No. Are they pistol lowers? Sure...just post-ban pistol lowers. As long as they don't have two or more "Deadly Features" when they are built, they are legal.
Fred Foosball buys a complete semiautomatic assault rifle kit in August 1994, but doesn't assemble it until September 14th, 1994. Is it a legal pre-ban rifle. Yes... it had all (and I mean ALL) of the pieces to make a complete SAW before the ban. BATF accepts this as a complete pre-ban rifle.
Josh the Impaler purchases a Remington 1100 on July 4, 1994 in order to celebrate Independence Day. A year later, he decides that he would like a pistol grip and folding stock added to make it a better home defense gun. Is this legal? No. The shotgun was complete before The Date, but it was not a SAW before the date, and therefore cannot be modified to a SAW after The Date.
All of this makes for some VERY gray areas. But we all must stay within the law as best as we know how. The basic rule of thumb to use is, if you are planning to buy a pre-ban gun or receiver, make sure that the person selling it to you can prove that it was built as a SAW (or in a complete kit form) before The Date. If he or she can't do this, don't buy it!!!!
Many people also believe that a serial number can tell you whether or not a receiver is pre- or post-ban. This is not always the case. For example, if a manufacturer's books show a serial number as being manufactured on August 23, 1994, and also lists that serial number being shipped on September 3, 1994, is this a pre-ban receiver? Well, that information alone will not tell you. If the books only show when a serial number was made and left, we still don't know how it was shipped. Was it a rifle? or a receiver only? did the dealer who purchased it build it into a SAW before The Date? These are all questions that are unanswerable with the provided information, so don't go on these facts alone!
I trust that the foregoing has been responsive to any misconceptions you as the reader may have about pre-ban and post-ban receivers/guns/regulations. Please pass this information on to your friends, neighbors, local gunshops, etc. The more knowledge we all possess, the better off our sport (and sportsmen) will be. Until then, play nice and shoot straight!
About the author: Mr. Sattler is the Law Enforcement Sales Manager and Archival Records Manager at Olympic Arms, Inc. in Olympia, WA and has been with the company since 1993. He is also a Reserve Deputy in a small Southwest Washington county Sheriff's Office.
"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as it is by the obstacles which one has overcome while trying to succeed."
NRA Life Member
That said, other clone makers like Bushmaster, Olympic and maybe ArmaLite would probably return to Pre-Ban configuration rapidly.
It is VERY important to keep the pressure on legislators not to pass an extension or something even worse. Just because President Bush has come out in mild support of it (I am not sure that is not just pabulum for the liberals since as long as the house has a solid conservative Republicant majority the ban will not be renewed), do NOT do something foolish like vote for a third-party candidate and thereby repeat 1992 when those who voted for Perot, because he was better on guns than Bush41, actually elected Klinton. But for Klinton and thereby AlGore who cast the one vote to break the tie in the Senate, we would not have this awful law. Just be thankful for the silly Democrats who thought Gore was not strong enough on the environment and voted Greeen in 2000, thereby electing Bush43. (Just think what would have happened since September 11, 2001 if Gore were president! There are other things besides guns that are also important.) Do not make that mistake in 2004. Hold your nose and vote for Bush43.