Why is every home made firearm not classified as a “Zip Gun”?

[Bolt_Action]

CA law generally prohibits the possession of “zip guns” and then goes on to define zip guns in PC 17360 as essentially any firearm that is not made by a licensed manufacturer. If that’s the case, why aren’t all home made firearms (eg home made ARs) illegal to possess? But if all home made firearms must be zip guns, why does the DOJ have a process for serializing and registering home made firearms? What am I missing here?

[RickD427]

CA law generally prohibits the possession of “zip guns” and then goes on to define zip guns in PC 17360 as essentially any firearm that is not made by a licensed manufacturer. If that’s the case, why aren’t all home made firearms (eg home made ARs) illegal to possess? But if all home made firearms must be zip guns, why does the DOJ have a process for serializing and registering home made firearms? What am I missing here?

You're missing the definition of a "Zip Gun." I think that you may be confusing the requirement that a firearm be built to the design of a licensed manufacturer with a requirement that the weapon be built by a licensed manufacturer.

PC 17360 defines a "Zip Gun" as one which meets ALL of the four listed criteria, specifically:

"(a) It was not imported as a firearm by an importer licensed pursuant to Chapter 44 (commencing with Section 921) of Title 18 of the United States Code and the regulations issued pursuant thereto.

(b) It was not originally designed to be a firearm by a manufacturer licensed pursuant to Chapter 44 (commencing with Section 921) of Title 18 of the United States Code and the regulations issued pursuant thereto.

(c) No tax was paid on the weapon or device nor was an exemption from paying tax on that weapon or device granted under Section 4181 and Subchapters F (commencing with Section 4216) and G (commencing with Section 4221) of Chapter 32 of Title 26 of the United States Code, as amended, and the regulations issued pursuant thereto.

(d) It is made or altered to expel a projectile by the force of an explosion or other form of combustion."

The reason that most home made firearms are not "Zip Guns" is because they were built to the design of a firearm done by a licensed manufacturer (Note that this is a different criteria than being made by a licensed manufacturer) thereby removing it from the second of the four required criteria.

We've had some lively discussion about how closely a home built firearm must comply with design requirement in order to meet the criteria of subpara (b). There isn't any regulatory or case law guidance of which I am aware.

We've also had some lively discussion about the excise tax payment criteria of subpara (c). When you examine the federal regs, a home builder is exempt from the excise tax for the first 49 builds in a calendar year, but the exemption does not lie within the part of the federal regs cited in PC 17360.