I think they'll have a hard time making the SBR charge stick.
Do they know anything about this lunatic, or is his online presence already scrubbed?
SBR in CA?
Violating about 10 CA laws.
“Jeanine”
wut???
good- federal charge so Essayli will oversee. can’t trust locals here.
I think they'll have a hard time making the SBR charge stick.
Short barrel rifle?
I thought that was called a carbine........
This is the image police that released:
I presume that the police went to the pains to stage this photo with a ruler placed behind the rifle to demonstrate that it is an SBR. Again presuming the hidden end of the ruler is aligned with the face of the bolt when in battery, that would mean the length of the barrel is roughly 12 inches to the end of the muzzle device.
The muzzle device only counts as part of barrel length when it is affixed with (at least) two "permanent" attachment methods. The two most common are pinning and silver-soldering done in concert. Neither of which is truly "permanent" since a skilled 'smith can still take it apart, but it's not as simple as just unscrewing it, so it passes the ATF's smell test.
But that is neither here not there because overall length is still too short by about four inches. But that DOES NOT mean it was "illegally modified."
Note that the lower receiver bears no markings on its right side except the icons for the 3-position selector switch. I don't know of a weapons manufacturer who doesn't use the lowers they make as a billboard, so I suspect this is an aftermarket or maybe an 80% lower, which means the rifle probably is home-made.
I also mention that just because the lower has markings for a 3-position selector switch does NOT mean the weapon is select fire. Mall Ninjas go for stuff like that because they think it increases the "cool factor." It's not impossible that it wasn't jury-rigged to be select-fire but odds are slim to none. and the police probably would have noticed by now.
I also note it is a fully ambidextrous lower, with mag release, slide release and selector switch on the right-hand side. It also has the ejection port on the right so it isn't simply a (mirror image) left-handed lower.
I think I can barely make out a Midwest Industries logo on the hand guard, and MI is a very popular manufacturer of aftermarket components, which reinforces the D-I-Y theory.
So if the accused built it from scratch, it wasn't "modified" into an SBR, it was born that way. You can buy short AR barrels all day and it isn't illegal (by ATF standards; state or local might have "constructive possession" laws that say otherwise) so long as it isn't installed in something that qualifies as "a rifle."
I don't know what other idiotic reasons Kommiefornia might have manufactured for it to be illegal under but it appears to me it would be an SBR in the lower 48, Alaska & Hawaii. And if it isn't registered with the ATF, the Feds have got 'im by the short 'n curlies.
Funny how so many here are just fine with arresting someone for menial charges when his 2nd and 4th Amendment rights are so clearly violated.