Legality of improvised suppressors (Along the lines of the registered shoelace)

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Falcon5NZ

New member
First of all I have broken no laws. Suppressors are a completely unregulated and legal item in New Zealand.

I few weekends ago I was at the range with a few mates plinking set steel targets with my .22 when I realised that I had an empty 600ml Pepsi Bottle and roll of insulation tape. So we decided to make a comparison of my mates suppressor and my Pepsi bottle. It works quite well (get's bonus points for double-take effect when people see it, as well).

Anyway, next range trip I took a tapered reamer and took a hole out of the centre of the bottle cap to allow me to just wedge it into position on my bbl and not worry about tape.

Anyway, I have two questions about the US Legal implications of this.

Firstly, Could possession of tape and an empty plastic bottle be called constructive intent if they really wanted to throw the book at you?

Secondly, Would the bottle cap or the actual bottle be considered the suppressor? E.g I know a threaded barrel could be used for a muzzlebrake or flash suppressor and in itself not illegal but the suppressor that attaches to it requires a Class 3 Permit.

Nick

P.S. If you're unfamiliar with the registered shoelace, here it is


Edit: And this would be better in the NFA section not GDF.
 
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I have never heard of anyone getting in trouble for having tape and a bottle. If you have a bottle with carbon fouling inside it and an exit hole in the end, you win the ATF's mystery prize.

FWIW I know a guy who has a "suppressor" that is little more than a serial numbered fitting that screws to his .22 that has threads for a 20oz bottle on the other end. It is registered on form 1.
 
I have never heard of anyone getting in trouble for having tape and a bottle. If you have a bottle with carbon fouling inside it and an exit hole in the end, you win the ATF's mystery prize.
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Um, I have one of those for catching soiled patches as I push them out the muzzle. You need the hole in the bottom for when you poke the patches out of the bottle into the trash can. Lots of people make those up to keep the ness down when cleaning their guns.
 
Falcon5NZ:...Anyway, I have two questions about the US Legal implications of this.

Firstly, Could possession of tape and an empty plastic bottle be called constructive intent if they really wanted to throw the book at you?


Secondly, Would the bottle cap or the actual bottle be considered the suppressor? E.g I know a threaded barrel could be used for a muzzlebrake or flash suppressor and in itself not illegal but the suppressor that attaches to it requires a Class 3 Permit.
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This is not constructive intent, but constructive possession.
The plastic bottle is considered the supressor if used as such.

There used to be an ad in Shotgun News for an adaptor that allowed you to screw a 2liter plastic bottle to the end of your barrel for a cheap supressor. The adaptor was and is completely legal to own. Just as empty (or full) plastic bottles are legal).

Constructive possession might apply if you possess the adaptor, a plastic bottle and a firearm.

The fact is there are many everyday items that could be used to make a homemade supressor. It would be much more difficult to prove in court that a common household item such as duct tape was intended for use illegally than if the defendent possessed that little adaptor from Shotgun News.













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In the US, there used to be a device that screwed onto a rifle barrel premitting you to screw a plastic bottle onto the device - I believe those were ruled to be suppressors. Not the kind of thing I'm going to use to clean my rifle with - I'll let some of the smarter folks take that risk.

BATFE can find that just about anything is a suppressor - depends on what evidence that they have to show intent to use it as a suppressor. I suppose that a big bag of cotton candy and a large round cardboard tube could be a suppressor if BATFE has evidence that you tried to mount it on the end of your pistol.
 
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