Here is the posting I was refering to: it's NOT my thoughts, just someone going by "308nick762"
They have their Reasons...
Submitted by 308nick762 on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 04:05.
Now all you airsoft guys are getting a taste of what people that manufacture, sell, and own real guns lives are like. This kind of BS happens all the time for us and now they are sticking their noses into airsoft, pretty much a harmless sport. Don't be surprised if you guys start seeing more of this.
I think its pretty funny that whoever wrote this thinks that you can just go buy a full auto AR-15 or any other "assault rifle" from your local gun shop. In fact they are not full auto, they are semi auto, which is why some crack head would want to (and probably did) make these airsoft guns full auto .223 shooting guns. (and no it is in no way cheaper to buy a real semi auto Ar-15 from a gun shop, and unless you have $10,000 to go blow on a legal Fully automatic M16 with an extra $200 transfer fee, then you won't be getting one of those either.
OK time for the explanation of why these are illegal and had to be confiscated. In the world of real guns (no affence to airsoft) the AR-15 rifle can be basiclly split into 2 sections, the upper assembly being the barrel, bolt, charging handle, and upper reciever, which is what holds the bolt and is a seperate piece from what holds the magazine, trigger etc, if you have ever dissasembled a real AR-15 or airsoft you know what I'm talking about. The UPPER assembly is not considered a gun and can be taken off of a real AR-15 and sold like a piece of scrap iron, needing no background checks, purchase age limit etc. These can be found for sale everywhere and priced from $200-$5000, and can range in caliber from .22 to .50 calibers.
Now, the lower assembly, which is made up of the trigger system, safety, rear buttstock, and lower receiver is what is causing all the problems. All the parts that go into the lower reciever (piece of metal that holds mag, etc.) are also considered scrap and can be bought anywhere, however the lower receiver is the one piece of the gun that the ATF regulates and considers that one piece a FIREARM. Now, for an even more confusing part, in the world of gunpowder powered guns there are two types of AR-15 lower recievers. One can only accept semi auto (one shot per trigger pull) parts, and it is made this way because the space inside of the metal can not fit the bigger full auto parts. And of course the fully automatic AR-15 (M16) lower receiver has a much larger space inside to hold all the extra, and larger full auto parts. NOW, in the world of air soft the lower receiver of an Air soft AR-15 is usually made in the same form of a real semi-auto AR-15 receiver. HOWEVER, this particular lot of airsoft AR-15's where made almost to the EXACT same dimensions as a FULLY AUTOMATIC AR-15 lower reciever, and they were made of ALUMINUM, not plastic. Now the reason the ATF was not giving these clear answers is because they did not want it known to the public HOW these could be made into real guns, as an attempt to keep some crazy loonbag from doing the conversion, which is REALLY, REALLY SIMPLE. All the conversion requires is an unregulated real upper AR-15 reciever, a surplus military trigger assembly, a .223 magazine, and a couple metal washers. Now just take out the gear box of the airsoft put in the trigger parts, remove the pin that holds the upper reciever to the lower reciever and swap the airsoft one for the real deal, insert your magazine filled with bullets and your ready to rock and roll. Now that is probably confusing to ya'll but its really really simple and the ATF is just doing their jobs.
Now the safety of the gun is questionable but it is capable of shooting, be it 5 rounds or 1000 rounds of full auto fire power. You might think its dumb since it is unsafe anyway, but hey, this is comming from a branch of the government that just recently put a man in jail for 10 years because his legal semi auto AR-15 malfunctioned, accidently fired a 5 round burst without stopping, then blew up in his hands. He reports the accident to the ATF and they send him to jail. I think this airsoft company got off pretty lucky for what they where dealing with.
