Pennsylvania Officials Declare Incomplete Gun Parts are Guns, Too

By Chris Eger

Gun rights advocates say Pennsylvania is using a “make-believe bridge” to dangerously morph the state’s law when it comes to firearm definitions. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Pennsylvania officials made a startling announcement Monday to up gun control restrictions by changing just what a “gun” is under state law.
State Gov. Tom Wolf and Attorney General Josh Shapiro, both Democrats, unveiled a legal opinion by the latter this week that classifies incomplete gun frames and parts such as “80 percent receivers” as firearms.
“My Office is taking the initial step of clarifying – through my official, legal opinion – that under Pennsylvania law, 80 percent receivers are firearms and can be treated, regulated, and enforced as such,” Shapiro said at a news conference with Wolf and State Police officials.
The six-page opinion, issued to Col. Robert Evanchick, the State Police Commissioner, concludes that a partially-manufactured receiver is a firearm if it is designed in a way that it “may be readily converted” to a completed receiver. This would result in such items being treated under the law as factory-produced firearms, with serial numbers, federal background checks and the like.
“Under the statute, it doesn’t matter that these are not fully finished products,” Shapiro said. “They are receivers

Source: Guns.com