Reweld a Cut Transferable MG?

[tricky9914]

Hey guys,

I am looking at a registered transferable machine gun. The interesting thing is, although transferable, it was vertically cut down the center of the receiver (only one cut separating the MG into two pieces). The story is that years ago, the firearm was seized by a police dept under the assumption it was illegal for the owner to have, although it was returned to the owner (because it was a transferable MG with paperwork), it was "destroyed" while is police custody. Of course, this is the "story", but who really knows how this come to pass...

 

Long story short, if welded back together, would there need to be anything special that would need to be done to it in terms of engraving, paperwork etc? This is not a dewat - it is a transferable MG that was once complete but now has a receiver in two pieces.

Thanks for any help!

[BillyDixon]

my thoughts are you are repairing a crack on your registered gun,you are not making any changes to it, no need to make any mention to any body about this , as far as anyone knows its always had this weld on it,,im not a lawyer so this is my opinon only,,just sayn

[Got Uzi]

I would think it would be considered a repair to an active gun. Really no different than a DEWAT on a Form 4.

 

Side note-I sure hope the owner sued the PD for destruction of property.

[BRMCII]

What type of MG? Is the controlled or registered part cut? For instance, a tubular receiver would be the registered part on a typical SMG so cutting down the center would cut the registered part in half. A Browning, if cut down the center of top and bottom would still have the registered part uncut since it is the sideplate.

Cutting the receiver to destroy it renders the gun "uncontrolled" or a non- gun. Since it is a registered MG, then it can be welded back together without creating a "new" MG so it is not a post-May sample.

However, under current ATF/NFA law welding the receiver back together is a major alteration materially affecting the condition of the receiver or registered part and is considered "manufacturing" work on the receiver, so the receiver would be required to be marked with the name and address of the person doing the work. A licensed gunsmith, licensed manufacturer with SOT or individual doing the work would be required to mark the receiver under a strict interpretation of the regs. However, there is no paper trail and the receiver is registered and there is little to no chance that the repair would be questioned.

The work and marking does not affect or change the current registration status of the gun so nothing changes with the paperwork.

 

The comment above that ATF/NFA will never know or be able to determine when the work was done is a common position taken to justify not complying with the regulations in such obscure situations, and not without merit.

Let your conscience be your guide. FWIW

Edited October 4, 2021 by BRMCII

[tricky9914]

Thank you so much for the replies, fellas!