Brown Hawk Industries: Soft advertising and asking for feedback

[Fallout Scavenger 2277]

Again. No work or payments yet, just advertising. I know I need an LLC and the proper paperwork before hand. Trust me, I ain't gonna put myself in a bad position

 

[BHPSteel]

I haven't been paid by a customer yet. I'm am in the process of getting an LLC and paperwork with the county. I follow several well known armorers online who build uppers and have only an LCC and proper tax docs. And they are fine legally. So I will be as well once I have the paperwork here soon.

Zach, I'm going to try and be gentle here.

If a customer brings a lower to you and leaves your premises while you do your build, you place yourself at a huge legal risk if you are not a proper FFL with the correct classification, with a bound book, properly completed.

Edit: I would advise that you talk to your employer about the practicalities of maintaining an FFL as a commercial entity handling multiple firearms. (i.e. not just getting a lower once in a while). take the effort to understand the implications of becoming an FFL. The record handling requirements. The retention periods etc.

 

[Asbestos]

The thing is that if he really is accepting work and being paid for it at the moment, he's exposing himself to a number of risks that will become genuine legal liabilities soon, if not already - Tax, FFL stuff. Those will inevitably increase his costs, so the dream of putting ARs together as a "paying hobby" that actually leaves money in his pocket diminishes.

Compliance such as having that FFL puts him far further into the safe zone and would protect him from any attention he gets.

In other ways, he's exposing himself to a world of trouble because guns are dangerous things that attract litigation when things don't go right. This may or may not be a huge risk, but I don't see any evidence that it was really considered.

We haven't got into the weeds over whether he has an appreciation of the engineering implications of assembling a full firearm from parts for different vendors (stacking tolerances, very slight manufacturing incompatibilities etc.) that may or may not be being addressed. If those are an issue, his risk level goes up again.

I like to support spunky go-get-'em entrepreneurs, but as others have said, building "custom" guns out of "economy" parts is a race to the bottom. The very fact someone wants a custom solution usually means that is that they want a combination of features you can't get elsewhere, so you can't just expect these components to just "go together perfectly" - there's always that risk that the assembler will need to have at least some of the capabilities of a gunsmith to (a) determine whether its safe to make that change and (b) actually do the necessary work.

If the objective is to get a 'cheap gun', then there's going to be little interest in paying for someone to assemble it (whether they too are "inexpensive" or not). The customers this business model will attract are almost certainly people with little or no understanding of what constitutes a well-built gun, and they may not even be aware of the risks attendant to buying a gun from a new entrant to the gun-build market.

But in specific answer, there are a lot of local and federal employees who could create a world of hurt for him already.

All very good points. There's also an easier answer....

Why get someone with little to no experience build your gun when there are fully qualified, trained, insured and licensed gunsmiths out there that will do it for a good bit less than he's charging?

 

[Fallout Scavenger 2277]

Zach, I'm going to try and be gentle here.

If a customer brings a lower to you and leaves your premises while you do your build, you place yourself at a huge legal risk if you are not a proper FFL with the correct classification, with a bound book, properly completed.

I am aware. My main focus will be uppers. Again, ill have the paperwork I need. But if a customer wants a lower built, they will bring it to me, wait outside and the lower will be returned to the owner in under 24 hrs. So it'll technically be in their possession still. Again, I ain't stupid, I'm not gonna risk any illegal action

 

[Fallout Scavenger 2277]

I appreciate the concern, but I know what I can and can't do and know I need certain documents before hand.

 

[Asbestos]

I am aware. My main focus will be uppers. Again, ill have the paperwork I need. But if a customer wants a lower built, they will bring it to me, wait outside and the lower will be returned to the owner in under 24 hrs. So it'll technically be in their possession still. Again, I ain't stupid, I'm not gonna risk any illegal action

actually, you're stupid if you think anyone is going to wait outside for 24 hours while you build their lower.

 

[Fallout Scavenger 2277]

actually, you're stupid if you think anyone is going to wait outside for 24 hours while you build their lower.

I dont expect them too. Once they hand me a lower, I can have it done in just a couple hours at most. The customer can wait nearby and do whatever they want while they wait.

 

[BHPSteel]

Just an FYI, because I think it might give some context.

I'm intending to build a 'somewhat non-standard' somewhat 'fancy' AR15 300BLK SBR within the next few months. So the parts will probably come to about $1500.

The incremental cost to have a qualified, experienced armorer build it for me (or maybe Shep if everyone else is busy) is one of the costs that is of LEAST concern to me.

 

[Fallout Scavenger 2277]

Again, im not stupid or nieve about this. I appreciate the concern but I got this. I'm 100% confident and know what's legal and what ain't.

 

[lostchild]

actually, you're stupid if you think anyone is going to wait outside for 24 hours while you build their lower.

Closer to 24 minutes for an experienced person with the correct tools.