I have some confusion about AR pistol laws

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

hawk-eye, have you read any of ATF's letters or FAQ online about this topic?

https://johnpierceesq.com/can-you-add-a-vertical-fore-grip-to-an-ar-pistol/

Above is a link to the website of a lawyer who has an active practice with NFA guns and gun trusts.

He quotes a 2011 letter from BATF that plainly says that part of the definition of an AOW is that it must be a concealable weapon-- which ATF regulations say is 26 inches overall length (using the same measurement that Congress itself wrote into the laws for short rifles and shotguns.) So ATF and this gun-rights attorney both conclude that if your AR "pistol" has an overall length of 26" or greater, EVEN WITH any arm brace collapsed or folded to its shortest position, it can't be an AOW. It's not concealable. Too big to easily conceal = "not an AOW" and therefore NO "making an AOW" would happen regardless of what kind of grip you have up front.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Notice, too, that the federal definition of a "pistol" does NOT depend on OAL. Rather, the requirement is that it be designed to be used one-handed. Putting a vertical foregrip proves, in ATF's twisted mind, that you intend to use to hands to shoot this gun. (Duh. And why don't they assume the same thing when the fore-grip is angled, or just a "hand stop" to keep your support hand away from the muzzle? All of those things show you contemplate two-handed firing.)

Anyhow, since a gun's barrel length, or OAL, is not directly relevant for the definition of a pistol, unless the barrel is so long and so heavy that it's not reasonable to think you'd still be shooting it one-handed, that's why it's legal to put a rifle-length barrel on a handgun frame, or to put a buffer tube on the back of an AR pistol that, combined with the barrel, pushes the OAL past 26". You've still got a pistol, up until you made a firearm. But you didn't make an AOW.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Changing a pistol into an "AOW" can't happen by changing barrel length or adding something that sticks out the back that isn't a shoulder stock (if it were a stock, you'd be making an SBR, not an AOW).

HOWEVER, you could do it by adding a vertical fore-grip (VFG) if, and only if, your weapon's OAL was below 26 inches.

AND you could also convert that pistol into an AOW by removing the rifling from the bore. Such as replacing the rifled barrel with a smoothbore barrel, or by drilling out the bore. That's why all those pistols that use .410 shotgun shells have rifling in the bore that works (at least somewhat successfully) with .45 Colt handgun bullets, too.

A pistol that's built, or rebuilt by its owner by the addition of new parts and accessories, to be a 2-handed weapon is now an AOW, unless it's so long as to not be concealable anymore.

A pistol that has its rifled barrel replaced or modified to be a smoothbore barrel would also become an AOW, unless it's too long to be a concealable weapon.