From: stedee@auto-trol.com (Steve Deemer)
Subject: Re: Paintball Sources (and silencers?)
Organization: Auto-trol Technology Corporation
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 16:00:14 GMT

In article <1992Sep1.212243.18113@hsv3.lsil.com> richhg@hsv3.lsil.com (Rich Henderson-Gragg) writes:
>in an article Steve Deemer   writes:
>>  It doesn't matter that you don't 
>>have a firearm, or even if your particular silencer will attach
>>to a firearm at all.
>
>    Does this mean that my pillow is illegal?  It's useable as a
>firearm sound supression device.
>    inquiring minds (and all that:).
>        -Rich-
>
>P.S. I couldn't resist asking.  I've been reading about silencers for
>     paintguns and the pros/cons for years.  By the way according to
>     advertisements in Paint Ball magazines silencers from TASO are
>     now sold in calif.
>           -R-
>
Things like pillows, soda bottles, styrofoam popcorn, and other everyday
items which could be used to fashion a sound suppressor are obviously not
restricted.  However, I wouldn't want to be caught walking around with
a pistol in one hand and a pillow in the other.  I'd hate to see what
a prosecutor could do with that situation.

This is the same situation that happens with constructing full-auto
firearms.  You can buy the parts for a vintage WWII Sten gun legally.
This is a really simple design that was intended to be made with as
few tools as possible.  Okay, so you have the parts, everything 
except the receiver.  This is like having all the parts of a car,
except for the engine block.  Without the engine block, you're not
going anywhere.  Without a receiver, you don't have a gun.

Full-auto receivers are Title III devices, and cannot be purchased or
manufactured without BATF approval.  The receiver for a Sten gun,
however, is a length of common muffler pipe with a few holes and
slots cut into it.  Now, you can buy muffler pipe in an auto repair
shop legally, because muffler pipe is intended to be used for mufflers.
You can have all kinds of muffler pipe lying around your house, no
problem, because it's legal to own.  Now, if you slot a piece of
pipe to accept Sten gun parts, you've got a Sten gun receiver and
that's a big-time Federal felony, 10 years/$100,000 penalty.

The problem for the ATF is when does someone cross the line from
plain, legal muffler pipe to restricted Sten gun receiver?  A
couple of years ago, a length of pipe with more than 80% of the 
holes cut was considered a receiver.  For most full-auto guns,
80% complete was sufficient to make a receiver a non-gun, because 
there's typically a lot of work to go from 80% complete to 100% 
complete.  Not so for a Sten gun.  It only takes a few minutes to
complete a Sten gun receiver that's been 80% slotted.  The ATF
changed it's definition of a Sten gun receiver from 80% complete
to 40% complete for a short time.  Since you can go from blank
pipe to complete receiver in a couple of hours, today the ATF
defined a Sten gun receiver as a length of pipe with the proper
slots marked.  There isn't a whole lot of difference between a
blank piece of pipe and a piece of pipe with some cutlines marked,
but it's enough to put you in jail.  Marking the pipe for a Sten
gun receiver today shows intent to build a Sten gun, and that's 
where you cross the line.

One scary problem in dealing with the ATF is that the definition
of illegal changes without warning.  Last year, Pres. Bush issued
an executive order banning the import of a list of firearms into 
the US.  The ATF, on it's own, has extended the ban to include
other weapons and parts.  There is no actual law giving them this
authority, and there are several lawsuits challenging recent ATF
actions that occured as a result of their decisions.  The ATF, 
however, is the Federal Government, and not likely to lose in a 
showdown with the People these days.  You might want to hang
out on rec.guns or talk.politics.guns to see what's going on.

A very long-winded and more serious reply than what you probably
expected, but the Feds don't consider this stuff a joke.  They're
fighting a War on (Crime/Drugs/etc.), and they ain't taking
prisoners.

Steve Deemer
stedee@auto-trol.com

Newsgroups: rec.sport.paintball