ignorance is no excuse

If you ever want to venture into the realm of NFA-regulated firearms and accessories (short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, “any other weapons”, automatic firearms, silencers, etc.), make 110% sure you know exactly what the law says, and how to abide by the letter of it, otherwise things like this could happen to you:

I have recently blogged about the issue of constructive possession of NFA firearms in my article NFA and Constructive Possession: Myth or Reality?. On August 27, 2009, Jesus Amador, Jr., was arrested by an undercover officer when he sought to sell his Heckler and Koch SP89 pistol. But, one can legally sell an H&K SP89, so what’s the twist?

Unfortunately for Mr. Amador, he was selling the H&K SP89 with the accessories that he collected for it, which included a vertical front grip and a shoulder stock. If Mr. Amador merely possessed the vertical grip, the pistol would have to be registered under the NFA as an AOW. However, because he also had a stock, the pistol would have to be registered as a short-barreled rifle, PRIOR to purchasing or possessing the shoulder stock and/or vertical grip.

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Mr. Amador even posted pictures of his mugshot and more telling, a picture of the SP89 with all accessories in a case. Most damning for Mr. Amador, other than being caught in possession of the SP89 with the shoulder stock and vertical grip is the fact that the case has a cut out for the SP89 to be placed in the case WITH the vertical foregrip, which would seem to connote, contrary to his position, that the SP89 was fitted with the foregrip at one point. For a picture of the case with the SP89 and accessories, see here.

Go read the whole article… the gentleman writing it is a lawyer, and provides the chapter and verse when it comes to “constructive possession”. Also, the post included an excerpt of an explanation/defense Mr. Amador put online after the incident… which brings up another point: if you ever have interactions with police officers involving charges brought against you, it is highly inadviseable to make any sort of public statement about them until they have been resolved. IANAL and all that, but I would still strongly recommend against doing what Mr. Amador did in this case.
In other news, anyone who complains about the lack of regulation concerning firearms is a bleeding idiot.