When the Serial Number is Stamped on It, It's a Firearm, Dammit.

Religious discussions aside, this is supposed to be a firearm and rights-oriented blog. I've been following Michael Bane's coverage of the recent BATF persecution of gunsmiths through the typical behavior of regulating bodies - changing the rules without warning, then going after everyone now "in violation."

When does customization of a firearm become manufacturing? That seemingly simple question is occupying the near undivided attention of the firearms industry. Observers say it is a question with the potential to become a firestorm that could put custom gunsmiths out of business; if not behind bars.

The controversy began with a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms inspection of Competitive Edge Gunworks in Bogard, Missouri. BATF and tax agents appeared and began examining the company's records. When they finished, owner Larry Crow was told he potentially faced felony charges for manufacturing firearms without a license.

So the BATF'ers want to make customizing a gun on which the excise tax has already been paid a crime? The guy that built my AR-15 up from a bare Bushmaster lower is a manufacturer? The 'smith that rebarrelled my 1896 Swedish Mauser is a manufacturer? I'm a manufacturer for putting a new barrel, scope, stock, and Volquartsen trigger group on the already taxed 10/22 receiver myself?

Here's the deal: When the original manufacturer stamps a serial number on the portion of the gun the BATF deems "the firearm," the frame of a 1911, for example, or the receiver of a bolt-action rifle, or the lower of my AR, then it is legally a "gun." If the manufacturer completes the assembly of the firearm - barrel, trigger group, stock - they pay the Internal Revenue Service an 11% tax on the value of the entire weapon. If they sell just the receiver, they pay the tax on the value of the receiver.

It sounds as though the BATF wants to claim that custom gunsmiths who start from a bare frame or receiver should be paying the 11% tax on the completed gun they deliver to the customer. It's a case of "We've never required this before, but we do now! And it's retroactive to whenever we say it is!" It sounds as though they're saying "The American public is being bilked out of thousands in tax money!"

They're not after the taxes, they're out to shut down licensed gunsmiths. Changes in how the rules were interpreted - not changes in federal law - resulted in the number of licensed firearms dealers declining from 245,000 in 1994 to 54,902 in 2005. Now they want to put gunsmiths - another licensee - out of business, and possibly into jail.

They want to change the rules? Fine. The tax is on the firearm - the part with the serial number. Period.

Write your congresscritters. Call them.

Often.