Home»US News»I Warned You About Gun Parts Being Targeted After Trump Admin’s Unconstitutional Bump Stock Ban – Now PA Is Going After Non-Completed Gun Parts As “Guns”

I Warned You About Gun Parts Being Targeted After Trump Admin’s Unconstitutional Bump Stock Ban – Now PA Is Going After Non-Completed Gun Parts As “Guns”

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I warned in many of my writings on the unconstitutional bump stock ban of the Trump administration that not only were they violating the law by imposing ex post facto law, but they were setting precedence regarding criminalizing gun parts. Now, law-abiding businesses that manufacture what is known as 80% lowers for rifles, which are often used to put together what is known as “ghost guns” due to the fact that they don’t require a serial number, are now suing the state of Pennsylvania after the attorney general of the state issued an opinion, and that’s all it is, that the unfinished frames are actually guns under state law.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro issued a tortured opinion defining partially-manufactured receivers as firearms.

Guns In The News reports:

This opinion flies in stark contrast to the current, and widely held, understanding that receivers that are unfinished and require additional work to operate as a functional frame or receiver are not considered firearms and therefore aren’t regulated as such.

Shapiro relies on two arguments to arrive at this absurd result.  One, that unfinished receivers are “designed” to expel a projectile by action of an explosive. It doesn’t take a law degree to figure out how backward this thinking is.   Partially-manufactured lowers are explicitly designed so that they are unable to expel a projectile by action of an explosive without further work.  In other words, by their very nature, they are not firearms.

Two, Shapiro claims that these receivers “may be readily converted (to expel a projectile)” which he argues is analogous to the “may readily be restored” language of the federal National Firearms Act.

With this make-believe bridge, Shapiro then imports federal case law concerning the “may be readily restored” (to a machine gun) language to draw up extremely broad contours of what would be considered a firearm under state law. He uses extreme case law to lower the threshold for what constitutes a firearm to facilitate his anti-gun position and leanings.

Shapiro’s “theory” of treating non-functioning blocks of polymer, steel, or aluminum as “firearms” is the equivalent of calling a pile of aluminum tubes a bicycle or even considering a hickory or ash tree a baseball bat.

“Overnight the lawful conduct that Pennsylvanians had engaged in was now criminal, subjecting Pennsylvanians to fines and potential incarceration depending on which applicable section their conduct now purportedly fit into,” the lawsuit said.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

The Commonwealth Court lawsuit asks a state judge to stop the state police from implementing any new policy, including background checks, based on the written opinion the agency received Monday from Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

Mr. Shapiro told state police to treat unassembled “ghost guns,” gun frames also referred to as 80% receivers, as firearms. The plaintiffs said the opinion does not give fair notice to people regarding what is legal and what is not, said Joshua Prince, who filed the petition.

“What they are saying is, a hunk of metal, because it could be turned into a receiver, is a firearm,” Mr. Prince said. “There is absolutely no criteria provided.”

Of course, Shapiro snubbed the law and Mr. Prince tweeting, “Bring It! We’ll see you in court.”

“These powerful special interest groups are the same ones that are stunting real reform in Washington and Harrisburg,” he said in a statement. “I will continue to fight to ensure our legal opinion stands and to close this gaping loophole in the system that allows criminals to get their hands on untraceable, unserialized DIY firearms.”

Obviously, Mr. Shapiro doesn’t actually care for the law, as these items have been deemed to be perfectly in line with the law.

Still, the usual criminal suspects come to his aid saying how “proud” they are they he is going after law-abiding citizens for something that is perfectly legal.

First, the young Communists known as March for Our Lives PA tweeted:

Then there’s Bloomberg’s anti-gun Everytown coming to his aid.

Then there are the Communist gun grabbers at Giffords.

Of course, Shapiro’s nonsensical argument is rooted in the fact that people who are prohibited from possessing a gun buy these and make their own.

OK, so deal with the criminal in possession of an actual fully functional weapon, Mr. Shapiro.  Stop messing with a perfectly legal product and law-abiding citizens who want to create their own weapons.

Shapiro and these gun grabbers know that criminals will find a way to get a gun if they want one.  What’s next?  Outlaw fully functional, serial numbered firearms because a person who isn’t supposed to possess a firearm can get one of those through theft or black market purchase?  Yep, that’s the next step people.

Even Governor Tom Wolf got in on the act of attempts to criminalize businesses, law-abiding citizens and inanimate object for the actions of a few.

https://twitter.com/GovernorTomWolf/status/1206628406990901248

According to Guns In The News:

Under federal law (18 U.S. Code § 921), the term firearm is defined as follows,

(A) any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; (B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon; (C) any firearm muffler or firearm silencer; or (D) any destructive device. Such term does not include an antique firearm.

The only individual piece of a gun that is regulated as a “firearm” under federal law is the frame or receiver. This permits individuals to customize firearms and procure and sell most gun parts without perpetual government interference.

Law-abiding Americans with a passion for firearms and working with their hands often purchase partially-manufactured firearm receivers or frames in order to make their own guns for personal use. As these materials are unfinished items that take significant additional manufacturing to complete, they are not considered frames or receivers under federal law. Gun owners purchase partially-finished receivers for a variety of reasons, including an interest in customizing their own firearms or the ability to fully exercise their Second Amendment rights without government intrusion.,

While some of these 80% lowers have been used in a simple decorative fashion, others have been used to make firearm replicas.

However, the dangerous thing about this is that now,  an attorney general is actually making the argument that non-functioning, non-completed gun parts are now considered guns.

I told you this was coming when the Trump administration unconstitutionally banned bump stocks, a mere optional gun part.  People didn’t listen because the guy in the office wore a “R” on his jersey.  Are you listening now?  Or do you agree with this insanity?

Article posted with permission from Sons of Liberty Media

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