Bartholomew Roberts
Moderator
According to the blog at Prince Law Offices, today Deputy Chief Steve Albro stated that ruling 2011-4 would modify the existing rule regarding pistols that can be converted to rifles.
Under the new ruling, a pistol could be converted to a rifle and back again without having to register the firearm as an SBR. However, the opposite of that will still be forbidden (a firearm that starts out as a rifle can never be a pistol without being registered as an SBR). The ruling has not been officially released yet, so I guess we will wait and see.
As rulings go, it maintains the total nonsensical nature of most firearms laws; but at least it is a step in the direction of the holding in the Thompson Centerfire Supreme Court case. Previously the ATF had taken a very narrow view of the holding in that case by saying it only applied to that specific firearm model (and not even other Thompson Centerfire products). I guess with Chicago getting smacked down, the ATF decided that there wasn't much to gain by deliberately thumbing their nose at the Supreme Court.
Under the new ruling, a pistol could be converted to a rifle and back again without having to register the firearm as an SBR. However, the opposite of that will still be forbidden (a firearm that starts out as a rifle can never be a pistol without being registered as an SBR). The ruling has not been officially released yet, so I guess we will wait and see.
As rulings go, it maintains the total nonsensical nature of most firearms laws; but at least it is a step in the direction of the holding in the Thompson Centerfire Supreme Court case. Previously the ATF had taken a very narrow view of the holding in that case by saying it only applied to that specific firearm model (and not even other Thompson Centerfire products). I guess with Chicago getting smacked down, the ATF decided that there wasn't much to gain by deliberately thumbing their nose at the Supreme Court.