This Should Be Embarrassing

Via Instapundit, I came across this article from The Rundown, "Firearms Expert Says Dayton Shooter’s Weapon Was Illegally Modified." The article reports:

      A former Navy serviceman and firearms expert told The Rundown that after viewing photos of the weapon used by the Dayton, Ohio nightclub shooter, the weapon was obviously illegally modified. 

      “A pistol/rifle hybrid is completely illegal on every level,” Jack Maxey told The Rundown. “It’s clearly illegal in its current configuration.”

      The weapon, which was obtained legally, was modified illegally.

      Any rifle that has a barrel under 16 inches is regulated under the National Firearms Act, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Clearly, the barrel on the rifle used by the shooter is less than 16 inches.

     “In order to have that configuration, he would have had to file for an ATF tax stamp, either as the original owner, or as a transferrer,” Maxey said.

The weapon in question is an AR pistol sporting a Shockwave arm brace. So, absent the lower having been originally designated as a rifle, it is unlikely that it was "illegally modified." Just a reminder that not everyone that says that he/she is a firearms expert is one; and someone that is an expert as to some aspect of firearms, may be ignorant about other aspects.

     However, rather than chuckling at this, maybe we should breath a sigh of relief that nothing more has been said about the weapon's configuration. I have a friend who has long maintained that we (the gun community) are on borrowed time as to arm braces, and that it will be only a matter of time until they, like bumpstocks, are banned.

Update (8/7/2019): "Firearm used in Dayton Domestic/Mass Murder was an AM 15 Pistol"--Ammo Land.