dakota.potts
New member
I went in to a local pawn shop the other day to ask about a project I wanted to work on. I've been in there a few times before and talked to the guy who runs the gun counter and he always seemed knowledgeable enough, if not a little arrogant. He'd previously told me that he has a side business building $4,000 custom AR-15s that "make Daniel Defense look like ****".
On this occasion I had gone in to ask him about an FAL project I wanted to do. I admit it's a weird question I had: I'm under 21, so I wanted to know if he could get an FAL receiver in the shop for me and allow me to barrel it and put a stock on it so I could transfer it as a rifle to me rather than a "firearm", since there's a 21 year old age limit on "other firearms" such as receivers.
I was prepared for a no on this since it's an unusual request. What I was not prepared for was the response I got.
He told me that not only could he do that for me, but I would be unable to buy any long gun that had a pistol grip that extended below the receiver. Apparently, both ATF and SLED (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) insist that these are different legally from regular long guns because they have a pistol grip that juts below the receiver. In fact, he told me somewhat proudly, he had just refused to sell an AK model rifle to a 19 year old a week before for the very same law.
I asked him where he had heard this, since I sold firearms for a living for a while also and had never run into this, and he kind of clammed up. It's an "unwritten rule", he told me. I asked him if maybe he meant the shotguns that don't have a pistol grip, like the Mossberg 500 Cruiser that is considered a "firearm" rather than a shotgun. No, he was quite sure that you had to be 21 to buy any long gun with a pistol grip on it, under both federal and state law.
So I called a local specialty gun shop around the corner. They informed me that not only would they be happy to help with my FAL build, they had a barrel vise and torque wrench they would allow me to use after hours since I'm a local gunsmithing student.
You can probably guess who will get my business the next time I need anything gun related.
On this occasion I had gone in to ask him about an FAL project I wanted to do. I admit it's a weird question I had: I'm under 21, so I wanted to know if he could get an FAL receiver in the shop for me and allow me to barrel it and put a stock on it so I could transfer it as a rifle to me rather than a "firearm", since there's a 21 year old age limit on "other firearms" such as receivers.
I was prepared for a no on this since it's an unusual request. What I was not prepared for was the response I got.
He told me that not only could he do that for me, but I would be unable to buy any long gun that had a pistol grip that extended below the receiver. Apparently, both ATF and SLED (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) insist that these are different legally from regular long guns because they have a pistol grip that juts below the receiver. In fact, he told me somewhat proudly, he had just refused to sell an AK model rifle to a 19 year old a week before for the very same law.
I asked him where he had heard this, since I sold firearms for a living for a while also and had never run into this, and he kind of clammed up. It's an "unwritten rule", he told me. I asked him if maybe he meant the shotguns that don't have a pistol grip, like the Mossberg 500 Cruiser that is considered a "firearm" rather than a shotgun. No, he was quite sure that you had to be 21 to buy any long gun with a pistol grip on it, under both federal and state law.
So I called a local specialty gun shop around the corner. They informed me that not only would they be happy to help with my FAL build, they had a barrel vise and torque wrench they would allow me to use after hours since I'm a local gunsmithing student.
You can probably guess who will get my business the next time I need anything gun related.
