[slavboj]

The only thing he is actually charged with is possession of a short barreled rifle. The prosecutor's documents do not even have photographs of the portion of the firearm that would establish whether it was configured as a "rifle" - it is perfectly legal under federal law to possess an AR style pistol with a naked buffer tube or a pistol brace, without a tax stamp.

In the one photograph they do have of this firearm, they intentionally crop it so that it is not possible to evaluate.

[jvanderbot]

The suspect informed a confidential source that he had a 10" barrel rifle. The source provided pictures of the rifle to authorities, and had seen it before several times, including going shooting with the suspect. The source provided several other points of data supporting him caching weapons and possessing a short rifle.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.56...

You might be referring to this image? Which is fairly clear, but I'm not sure how they measure barrel length here, but to my eyes it is 13" (unless the last 3 are a suppressor of some sort that isn't counted).

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.56...

This is from the probable cause affidavit, which I guess is used to obtain a warrant?

[twalla]

In the eyes of the ATF, this is considered a pistol, which has no restrictions on barrel length.

https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-lpuqsi1cy6/images/stencil/12...

Additionally, this is _also_ considered a pistol with a "stabilizing brace" (which are subject of much contention and confusion)

https://www.sb-tactical.com/wp-content/uploads/sbpdw-install...

The GP's complaint is that the linked photo contains insufficient context (for us, at least) to determine if the firearm in question is, from a legal standpoint, an SBR.

[Tuna-Fish]

> You might be referring to this image? Which is fairly clear,

The issue is that it is entirely legal to have an AR-15 configured as a pistol with a very short barrel, without any tax stamps. That is, not having a stock attached to it. The image provided does not prove that he has a short-barreled rifle, because you cannot see whether it has a stock.

[ImPostingOnHN]

The muzzle device looks to be a flash suppressor, possibly a Noveske KX3 or something similar. Muzzle devices don't count towards barrel length, except in some cases where they're permanently attached.

That said, 13" is also a short-barreled rifle length. If this is indeed a rifle, and not an AR pistol.

[generalizations]

> You might be referring to this image? Which is fairly clear

The buffer tube extends off the rear, which has been cropped from the image.

[declan_roberts]

It seems to me like they busted an eccentric collector.

Men love this kind of stuff. If TNT was legal to own there would probably be a collector for it.

[llamaimperative]

What if he had ISIS flags hung around his home?

[franktankbank]

If TNT was legal to own I'd be buying it for my farm.

[tw04]

I guess what is it you're trying to imply? Because I find it EXTREMELY unlikely the FBI agents in question don't know what qualifies as an SBR vs. a pistol. Furthermore, even if he does have a naked buffer tube, if the gun was registered as a rifle at the time of purchase, it is a rifle. You cannot "convert" a rifle lower to a pistol if it was defined as a rifle when you bought it.

It also seems EXCEEDINGLY unlikely the FBI would make a giant press release before anyone verified if the rifle in question was actually violating any laws. There would be almost nothing to gain, and a LOT of egg on everyone's face if the guy walks because nobody at the FBI knew the difference between an SBR and an AR pistol.

[ty6853]

The feds recently convicted a guy by arguing a piece of metal (basically a metal business card) with a drawing of a machine gun conversion device on, as having sold machine guns.

They can literally just lie about the law and confuse the ignorant jury as they did for matt hoover. In a couple years he'll get released on appeal, who cares, they already destroyed his business and relegated his wife and childs mother to begging for money on YouTube.

[jt2190]

As a legal filing, perhaps it’s important to show a picture of the weapon in a neutral way, in order to avoid an argument over the filing itself. (I’m not a lawyer just speculating.)

[wl]

They could have photographed the entire firearm from buffer tube to muzzle device in a neutral way.

[strathmeyer]

OK but what about all the dangerous explosives and the intent to murder innocent people?

[ncr100]

"Soon": Get the process going, ankle monitor strapped and movement of suspect restricted, continue the law enforcement investigation, and make additional charges if violations are identified.

[giantg2]

That's the question - why isn't he charged with those more blatant infractions. Maybe he will be, but just hasn't yet.

[rustcleaner]

I have a dream... that one day we will have a DEA which only regulates purity and accuracy of dose for drugs, and an ATF which only regulates quality and accuracy for firearms. These laws do little to protect the public and they mire enthusiasts with steep and discouraging legal (and thus personal physical) risks. This sort of thinking about the role of government has to stop; it is human civilization's chief sickness.

[anon7000]

“Chief sickness” is pretty strong when there are dozens of other human problems that are considerably worse.

[bigfudge]

But drugs and firearms have very different risk profiles for other people. Perhaps it bears repeating: US lax gun laws and culture which glorifies violence leads to an order of magnitude more violent deaths than comparable countries in Europe.

[cyanydeez]

I have a well regulated militia dream.

give up guys.