CA DOJ visiting gunsmiths?

[joechoi107]

Forgive me if this is in the wrong place.

My friend told me about a local gunsmith recently. He's getting an AR upper finished by him and thought I'd wait to see the results before I took mine in to get cerakoted. All of a sudden my buddy gets a call from the gunsmith and this is how the conversation went:

Gunsmith: Hey, I'm really sorry but I can't pin your muzzle device. It's a flash hider and I don't want to get arrested.

Friend: What??

Gunsmith: A DOJ representative visited our shop and told us they made several arrests already. I don't want to risk anything so I can't pin and weld your flash hider.

Friend: But flash hiders aren't illegal. All you have is my upper.

Gunsmith: Still. If you get caught with a 14.5" upper with a pinned flash hider in your car even without a lower you can still technically get charged just for intent. You can definitely fight it in court after that but you'll have to deal with legal fees.

Friend: That makes no sense. You're not building me a firearm. You're just making my upper a 16" compliant upper.

Gunsmith: I'm sorry. The rep said we could get arrested if we pinned a flash hider. If you bring me a muzzle brake or compensator I'd be more than happy to do that for you.

Now, obviously I don't know exactly what the DOJ rep said to the gunsmith but that raised two questions/concerns for me.
1. Did flash hiders somehow become illegal in California now even if you planned to attach it to a preban (Pre 2017 bullet button) lower?
2. Has anyone else heard about the DOJ recently visiting FFL's or gunsmiths and telling them it's illegal to do certain type of work that normal law abiding citizens thought was completely legal to do, even with the threat of arrest?

I'm so confused. Please help.

[b18bturboek9]

Sounds like a lot of FUD getting spread on that sandwich. One the upper isn't the firearm and that's like telling someone not to build a pistol upper incase they think your building a sbr even though you own a pistol lower your putting it on. Find a new gunsmith, Are they trying to say your manufacturing a so called assault weapon or does the gunsmith need a dangerous weapons permit.

[joechoi107]

That's exactly what he told the gunsmith, that these are parts not regulated by the DOJ. He even mentioned that he can bring in his AR pistol lower but the gunsmith said it didn't matter. The gunsmith literally said the DOJ visit scared his shop to the point they stopped taking in ARs effective immediately.

[b18bturboek9]

Ya sounds like the gunsmith wants to wait til the smoke clears and the regs come out. I understand it on his part because he's trying to run a business and seems like a lot of legal hassle but to each his own. Find a new gunsmith.

[kcheung2]

"my unnamed friend told me about an unnamed gunsmith in an undisclosed location had an unrecorded discussion with an unnamed DOJ person with an unknown title who may or may not have cited an unknown reg and then said something perfectly legal is not legal."

[CouchOperator]

Smells like BS. After several arrests we'd have heard about this in other forums as well from family/friends of the arrested

[thcrusadr]

These shops need to start recording these conversations. Sounds to me like an anti gun nut posing as DOJ

[Paul_R]

Sounds like the gunsmith made the whole thing up.

[Mayor McRifle]

Don't spread FUD.

[mooner760HD]

Uhh flash hiders are against new cadoj bs regs. That is one of the evil assault weapon features. Featureless would have to have a muzzle break.

[CouchOperator]

Uhh flash hiders are against new cadoj bs regs. That is one of the evil assault weapon features. Featureless would have to have a muzzle break.

What say you if it were an upper previously from a as-currently-defined AW configuration? Ive swapped parts to "complete" an upper, as i wasnt happy with a thing or two.

[dyson]

Man, there goes my idea of turning my flash hiders into keychains.

[dieselpower]

There is a possibility the DoJ is saying this to Gunsmiths.

They too are subject to foolish notions about what the law says. I had one tell me they were allowed to arrest me for offering to attach a 7" barrel to a pistol lower. There is a law against shortening the length of a pistols barrel. Where this law is I dont know, but that is what I was told by the DoJ.

Just find another Gunsmith and move on. If you got fat stacks of cash hire a lawyer and file a suit against the DoJ for harassment.

[CouchOperator]

Man, there goes my idea of turning my flash hiders into keychains.

Glue your car key into an A2 grip, house key into an a2 flashhider with some of the end sliced off, and tie your pocket knife on a lanyard with a stock hanging off the end out of your pocket

[stevebla]

28 years of assault weapons laws and we are at grip fins, funky stocks, and muzzle devices. I take some solace for my frustrations knowing that the banners must be having fits.