grampajack
Plastic
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2017
I'm wanting to start a business that would deal exclusively with assembling ar15 uppers for people, from parts they would provide themselves. I would only be providing assembly service, and would not be actually selling or manufacturing anything at all. People would send me their parts and I would send them back a completed upper.
Now the DDTC has already ruled in an opinion letter that assembling uppers doesn't require registration, so I'm good on that front.
HOWEVER, I'm also wanting to offer several services that would be in a gray area. These would be dimpling a barrel for a gas block, pinning a gas block, and pinning and welding a muzzle device.
So after researching the various regs and opinions from the DDTC, these are my conclusions:
My business would fall under "defense services," meaning I wouldn't have to register as long as I only provide the service to US residents. This being that I would be assisting my customers in the assembly of their ar15. Even if the machining jobs were deemed to be manufacturing, assisting with manufacturing is also covered under "defense services." Again, I will not be building uppers for resale, but only working on customer parts. In other words, I will not have to collect sales tax for anything I do.
IF somehow this is deemed to fall under manufacturing and not defense services, and that's a very big stretch, according to DDTC guidelines it's only manufacturing if it results in an enhanced capability. I understand enhanced capability to mean that the firearm can do something it couldn't do previously, like shoot a different caliber, take a muzzle device, etc. I fail to see how anything I propose doing, i.e. pinning a gas block, could result in an enhanced capability.
Well, that's my story. I just wanted to run this by you guys and see if I've missed or overlooked anything. It's a big set of regs, and there are a lot of moving, self contradictory parts to it.
For the record, I have sent a letter to DDTC asking for their opinion, but I pretty much expect either to arbitrarily be told I have to register, or otherwise not receive a clear answer. So yea, I'm not expecting much help from them.
I was also curious, have any gunsmiths actually been prosecuted under ITAR as of yet? I'm just wondering if there's any actual case law to support the DDTC's opinions. Because, quite frankly, their opinions regarding gunsmithing are not supported by the actual regulations on the books. They're just arbitrarily making it up as they go along. But without case law, it's hard to know how much of it could actually be made to stick.
Now the DDTC has already ruled in an opinion letter that assembling uppers doesn't require registration, so I'm good on that front.
HOWEVER, I'm also wanting to offer several services that would be in a gray area. These would be dimpling a barrel for a gas block, pinning a gas block, and pinning and welding a muzzle device.
So after researching the various regs and opinions from the DDTC, these are my conclusions:
My business would fall under "defense services," meaning I wouldn't have to register as long as I only provide the service to US residents. This being that I would be assisting my customers in the assembly of their ar15. Even if the machining jobs were deemed to be manufacturing, assisting with manufacturing is also covered under "defense services." Again, I will not be building uppers for resale, but only working on customer parts. In other words, I will not have to collect sales tax for anything I do.
IF somehow this is deemed to fall under manufacturing and not defense services, and that's a very big stretch, according to DDTC guidelines it's only manufacturing if it results in an enhanced capability. I understand enhanced capability to mean that the firearm can do something it couldn't do previously, like shoot a different caliber, take a muzzle device, etc. I fail to see how anything I propose doing, i.e. pinning a gas block, could result in an enhanced capability.
Well, that's my story. I just wanted to run this by you guys and see if I've missed or overlooked anything. It's a big set of regs, and there are a lot of moving, self contradictory parts to it.
For the record, I have sent a letter to DDTC asking for their opinion, but I pretty much expect either to arbitrarily be told I have to register, or otherwise not receive a clear answer. So yea, I'm not expecting much help from them.
I was also curious, have any gunsmiths actually been prosecuted under ITAR as of yet? I'm just wondering if there's any actual case law to support the DDTC's opinions. Because, quite frankly, their opinions regarding gunsmithing are not supported by the actual regulations on the books. They're just arbitrarily making it up as they go along. But without case law, it's hard to know how much of it could actually be made to stick.
