There is a difference between federal and state laws.
An SBR’d lower receiver, according to the ATF, is registered as a NFA SBR. In Hawaii, for example, SBRs are not banned. Rifles with barrels of length less than 16" ARE banned. There is a difference; I can bring an SBR’d lower receiver with a 16.1" barrelled upper to Hawaii and be completely legal.
Key word is MAINTAIN POSSESSION. How is that defined? If I sell the upper to my friend for 1.00 do I maintain possession of it? Hpow is the BATFE or any local/state LE going to know unless I commit a crime and cause them to investigate? The simple answer is that they won’t.
Agreed …
In any event, it always comes down to the discretion of the field officers regardless of what the technical rule is.
There is no such thing as an SBR upper.
With a 16" or greater barrel, a rifle is not an SBR because it is not “short barreled,” i.e., under 16". In that configuration, it does not fall within the NFA so there is no reason to investigate.
If you have a complete upper with a barrel under 16" and a complete lower configured as a rifle, i.e., “intended to be fired from the shoulder,” then you have the theoretical/possible possession of a short-barreled rifle, i.e., “a rifle having one or more barrels less than sixteen inches in length,” which is contraband unless you have a tax stamp.
If the two receivers are joined, then it is more than theoretical. It is most likely actual at that point.
When they are separated, then you have the constructive possession conundrum. What if one is locked in a safe and the other isn’t? What if they are on different floors of my house? What if my non-AR owning buddy holds one? Etc. Etc.
In the case of the original poster, in the military and worried about transferring to a state that does not allow SBRs, putting a 16 inch upper on, and sending the short upper ‘home’ will keep the SBR out of the prohibited state, and legal.
Thomson Center vs. USA is good reading on a closely related topic, ruling that if you had a pile of parts that could either be made into a lawful configuration or an unlawful configuration, the government could not assume you were going to make an unlawful weapon… Not sure how this would affect state law, but it’s a good read. In question was possession of a Thompson center pistol, with a kit to make a rifle (stock, 16+ inch barrel).
With a 16.1" barreled upper, it is not an SBR within the federal definition.
“(8) The term ‘‘short-barreled rifle’’ means a rifle having one or more barrels less than sixteen inches in length and any weapon made from a rifle (whether by alteration, modification, or otherwise) if such weapon, as modified, has an overall length of less than twenty-six inches.” 18 USC 921
I was in the army for 20 years, I know what you’re saying. I was curious as to what his experience was.