A friendly Hobby Machinist reminder that this forum is about making chips, not politics. If this thread strays into politics, this thread will be locked and or deleted and members will be warned and/or banned for violation of our "no politics" rule.
If you find the attachment in the post above useful as a hobby machinist and how it informs your decision on how to proceed as a firearms owner and hobby machinist - excellent - please share how as I'm sure many others are wondering how the law may affect them in NY as a hobby machinist AND firearms owner.
DO NOT TAKE THIS ANY OF THIS AS LEGAL ADVICE!
It is incumbent upon EVERY machinist to be completely knowledgeable in how to operate his machines both properly AND safely. Nobody is born with this knowledge nor does the learning ever stop. Every scrap of information on this topic should be sought furiously and studied scrupulously to prevent damage to a machine, waste of material and worse, physical injury. Keeping, building, repairing and modifying firearms is only different in that there is a forth element of risk.
What we do with firearms MUST be done LEGALLY. The only way this can be done is by KNOWING, not speculating or guessing, what the law states. In this context the LAW or a courts decision is emphatically NOT politics or political. The politics were all done BEFORE the law was written and approved AS LAW. Just as law can be created, law can be changed or over-turned, but until that happens, it remains THE LAW. The LAW MUST BE OBEYED, just as you MUST do certain things when drilling a .125 in hole in a .005 in piece of stainless steel or engage the crossfeed on a lathe. There is NOTHING political about drilling that simple hole in stainless steel shim stock. Do it incorrectly and you risk consequences including serious injury.
Again, nobody is born knowing the law and anyone who guesses or speculates about it is doomed to injury. This, combined with its ever changing nature, the 4th component of safe "keeping and bearing" firearms operations MUST be studied continuously ... and mastered as best it can.
Just as it is wrong and dangerous for a person not educated in drilling holes in stainless steel shim stock to give advice on doing it, it is equally wrong for someone to give opinion, speculation or guess about firearm law without KNOWING it. Opinion, speculation and guess IS politics and the very root of it. Quoting the law is exactly like reading from the most current edition of Machinery's Handbook. You'll pardon my digression, but OF COURSE it is legal for Americans to build their own firearms, including short double-barreled 12 gauge pistols. My source of information is found in the first post of this thread (i.e., NFA, 1934), not some internet speculation. BUT, of course ... this IS the internet ... and what I said should NOT be taken as legal advice. You MUST do your own homework!!! If you have not read this law and do not KNOW it, you should NOT build or modify firearms, and neither are you in a position to render opinion, speculation or guess about doing so. If you have questions or are unsure about the NFA, or you are not confident in your understanding of it, there are plenty of REPUTABLE SOURCES of information out there ... including an email to the ATF-E or conversation with a knowelegable attorney.
The Supreme Court DECISION in NYSR&PA v Bruen is NOT political. Like it or not, it was put together by a panel of experts, in light of their individual training and experiance, EXACTLY the way that the Machinery's Handbook was assembled. Going against it is the same as drilling that .125 inch hole in stainless steel incorrectly ... there WILL be consequences.
NYSR&PA v Bruen is the third part of a trilogy of Supreme Court decisions regarding the keeping and bearing of firearms. These decisions are NOT politics ... they carry the weight of CONSTITUTIONAL LAW and MUST be obeyed. At our level, opinion, speculation and guess cannot change or overturn them.
To complete that trilogy, I am including the Supreme Court decision in District of Colombia v Heller,
(Click Here), as well as their decision on McDonald v. City of Chicago
(CLICK HERE). If you are going to "keep and bear" firearms, this, plus all local law and regulation (look them up for yourself --- they are far too many to report here) is the "Machinery's Handbook" of what you need to know to do it legally.
My motivation is to share these "instruction manuals" in the spirit of education.
