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Comment by brixon | Hacker News Reader

Nothing illegal about making your own gun. You cannot pay someone else to do the work for you, it has to be done by you. You can never sell the gun since only licensed guns are allowed to be sold.

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Actually, that's not exactly true.

You cannot legally manufacture a firearm intended for sale without having an appropriate FFL (and ITAR certification, etc.)

You can absolutely manufacture a firearm for your own use, and then at a later date, sell that firearm.

Small clarification - I don't think you can sell it to an FFL or through an FFL. I think you'd be able to sell it directly to another person, but there's no mechanism to have it go through the NICS system (which requires a manufacturer and serial number).

Guns made before the serial number requirement can still be sold through FFLs, I see no reason why this would be different as long as everything else is legally up-to-snuff.

To remain a "Ghost Gun" you would have to never serialize it or register it. You have to do those things to sell it. The point of making these specific types of guns is that "the man" cannot take what he does not know you have.

In reality, there is little reason to do this. In many states you do not need to retain documentation of the re-sale (private sale) of a firearm, so you can always tell "the man" that you sold that gun years ago when they want to take all your guns.

I find that statement misleading: one doesn't need to serialize or "register" (whatever that's supposed to mean) an AR lower made for personal use that, later, one decides to sell. Again, YMMV, depending on the state.

As always, it depends on the state, but it's not true that you can never sell a gun that you've made. You can't make them with the intent of selling them without the proper paperwork, but you could make one for yourself, then later decide to sell it. Check the ATF FAQs for more info.

Actually, while it might not work for a gun that's already been made, obviously one can make and sell guns after jumping through the various hoops the BATFE et. al. require (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Firearms_License), adding a serial number to it, etc.

I wonder what the law is for making them part of your estate.

You could sell every part except the lower receiver.

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