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Turbopilot has it right in post 55. If you have an AR type rifle and you have a fore end grip attached to it, you are perfectly legal. This remains true if you have an AR type handgun sitting in the safe right next to the rifle, because the fore end grip is attached to the rifle and it is legal for it to be there. If the grip is loose, and the AR pistol can accept it, you are in constructive possession of the parts to assemble an Any Other Weapon, which must be legal in your state and registered (and taxed) by the Treasury Department.

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.