I didn’t ask about installing one. My questions is , “Would possession of a foregrip handle violate any laws?”
Possession of a unregistered silencer is against the law. Installing one on a firearm is a separate violation.
Sorry, I misunderstood.
No, mere possession is quite legal - look at all the ones for sale at CTD, Midway, etc. They are legal to put on rifles, just not pistols. If some BATFE jerk saw you at the range w/ the PLR and an unattached handle in the guncase that the PLR, and only the PLR was in, I can imagine getting quite a hassle tho’.
Foregrip handles aren’t regulated. But if you had an unused one and a handgun like the PLR that could accept it, the feds might say you have ‘’constructive possession’’ of an SBR. It’s the same logic that lets them bust people for having an AR-15 and certain M16 parts, even if they never install those parts. It’s illegal to have the ability to do something illegal.
It’s dumb, and probably pretty safe since unlike M16 parts there are many guns to which you can legally attach a vertical foregrip. But if the ATF wanted you, I think they could get you.
The same is true of the combination of the AR pistol upper with the AR rifle lower. If you have both of them apart, you are in constructive possession of a short barreled rifle, even though you had no intention to illegally assemble one. So clean them at different times, or leave the forward pin in place so the receivers stay together.
Far fetched? I was the E.M.T. at a fire standby years ago. The fire was quickly extinguished, but the firefighters sent in a team to break down the area and make sure the fire was out. They found a quarter pound of pot. The homeowners were arrested and charged with intent to distribute.
Stranger things have happened. A friend was on a fire standby when they found a very active World War II trophy in the homeowner’s attic. It was either an MP-40 or the aforementioned StG-44. I never found out which one. Fortunately, the guy was old enough, and tired enough, that the cops just took it and declined to prosecute. Unfortunately, the cops just took it and since it was in New Jersey, I'm sure the thing was destroyed.