BATF Reverses Ruling
On Importation of Some Rifle Receivers
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) has reversed a
three-year-old policy that allowed the importation of certain
rifle receivers.
In the 1997 "reevaluation" of semi-automatic
rifle importation under the Gun Control Act’s "sporting purposes"
test, BATF decided that rifles capable of accepting "large
capacity military magazines" could not be imported.
Contrary to
hundreds of comments received from the industry and public, the
Administration felt those rifles weren’t suitable for "sporting
purposes." Following that ruling, BATF allowed frames, barrels,
or receivers for such rifles to be imported, since these could
also be used as spare parts for existing, lawful rifles, or even
to assemble types of firearms that would be importable.
Now that
policy has been reversed, and import permits are being denied.
BATF’s apparent assumption is that any gun part which may be used
to manufacture a banned firearm, will be used to make a banned
firearm -- a position with some serious risks for anyone who uses
imported parts in manufacturing, modifying, or repairing
firearms. The ruling itself does not affect importation of
Garands, which are already banned from importation due to Bill
Clinton’s strained interpretation of the Arms Export Control
Act’s rules relating to reimportation of U.S.-origin firearms.
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