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Abstract
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The Department of Justice ("Department") is amending Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives ("ATF") regulations to remove and replace the regulatory definitions of "firearm frame or receiver" and "frame or receiver" because the current regulations fail to capture the full meaning of those terms. The Department is also amending ATF's definitions of "firearm" and "gunsmith" to clarify the meaning of those terms, and to provide definitions of terms such as "complete weapon," "complete muffler or silencer device," "multi-piece frame or receiver," "privately made firearm," and "readily" for purposes of clarity given advancements in firearms technology. Further, the Department is amending ATF's regulations on marking and recordkeeping that are necessary to implement these new or amended definitions.
There are no statutory definitions for the terms "frame" or "receiver" in the Gun Control Act of 1968 ("GCA") or the National Firearms Act of 1934 ("NFA"). To implement these statutes, the terms "firearm frame or receiver" and "frame or receiver" were defined in regulations to mean "[t]hat 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 (implementing GCA, Title I); 27 CFR 479.11 [1]
(implementing GCA, Title II). These definitions were meant to provide direction as to which portion of a weapon is the frame or receiver for purposes of licensing, serialization, and recordkeeping, thereby ensuring that a component necessary for the functioning of the weapon could be traced if later involved in a crime.
However, a restrictive application of these definitions would not describe the frame or receiver of most firearms currently in circulation in the United States. Most modern weapon designs, including semiautomatic rifles and pistols with detachable magazines, have a split or multi-piece receiver where the relevant fire control components are housed by more than one part of the weapon (e.g., the upper receiver and lower receiver of an AR-15 rifle), or incorporate a striker to fire the weapon, rather than a hammer.
In the past few years, some courts have treated the regulatory definition of "firearm frame or receiver" as inflexible when applied to the lower portion of the AR-15-type rifle, one of the most popular firearms in the United States. If broadly followed, that result could mean that as many as 90 percent of all firearms (i.e.,with split frames or receivers, or striker-fired) in the United States would not have any frame or receiver subject to regulation. Furthermore, technological advances have also made it easier for companies to sell firearm parts kits, standalone frame or receiver parts, and easy-to-complete frames or receivers to unlicensed persons, without maintaining any records or conducting a background check. These parts kits, standalone frame or receiver parts, or partially complete frames or receivers enable individuals to make firearms quickly and easily. Such privately made firearms ("PMFs"), when made for personal use, are not required by the GCA to have a serial number placed on the frame or receiver, making it difficult for law enforcement to determine where, by whom, or when they were manufactured, and to whom they were sold or otherwise transferred. Because of the difficulty with tracing illegally sold or distributed PMFs, those firearms are also commonly referred to as "ghost guns."
For these many reasons, ATF is promulgating a rule that would bring clarity to the definition of "frame or receiver" by providing an updated, more comprehensive definition. On May 21, 2021, the Department published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("NPRM") in the , 86 FR 27720, proposing to redefine the term "frame or receiver" as that which provides housing or a structure to hold or integrate one or more fire control components. In light of the comments received, this final rule revises the proposed definition of "frame or receiver" so that a "frame" is applicable to a handgun, and variants thereof, and a "receiver" is applicable to a rifle, shotgun, or projectile weapon other than a handgun, and variants thereof. Moreover, "frame or receiver" will be defined to describe only a single part that provides housing or a structure for one specific, primary fire control component of weapons that expel a projectile, or one specific, primary internal sound reduction component of firearm mufflers or silencers. The final rule also defines the meaning of "variants" and "variants thereof." The final rule provides detailed examples along with pictures identifying the frame or receiver of a variety of common models under the updated definition. The final rule also exempts from the new definitions and marking requirements existing split frame or receiver designs in which a part was previously classified by ATF as the firearm "frame or receiver" and provides examples and pictures of select exempted frames or receivers, such as AR-15/M-16 variant firearms. The only exception to "grandfathering" will be for partially complete, disassembled, or nonfunctional frames or receivers, including weapon or frame or receiver parts kits, that ATF did not classify as firearm "frames or receivers" as defined prior to this rule.
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2022-08026
Language: en |