# If I made my own gun, would I have to register it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-made-my-own-gun-would-i-have-to-register-it/517570 "2009-11-14T18:27:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-made-my-own-gun-would-i-have-to-register-it/517570/21 "2009-11-16T05:31:34Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > But if someone has broken into my home and run afoul of one of my .69 belt pistols, I’m not real worried that the thing was home-made and doesn’t have a serial number let alone registration papers. .69 pistol? Black powder? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-made-my-own-gun-would-i-have-to-register-it/517570/22 "2009-11-16T15:54:52Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > .69 pistol? Black powder? Yeah. And smoothbore. Which basically makes it a 6 inch 14g shotgun. Does frightening things at close range. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-made-my-own-gun-would-i-have-to-register-it/517570/23 "2009-11-16T16:11:43Z")
> [@Mr\_Buttons](#): > > If I made one of those, and kept it loaded and under the bed, would I be able to use that as a defensive weapon…? Highly unlikely. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-made-my-own-gun-would-i-have-to-register-it/517570/24 "2009-11-16T21:16:48Z")
I know when people make a rifle like an AR-15 or custom benchrest shooting rifle, they start with a factory receiver that’s been serial numbered and registered, then they make/buy and install the barrell, stock, trigger, etc. themselves. But it always starts with a factory receiver, that seems to be the smallest piece that is legally considered a gun. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-made-my-own-gun-would-i-have-to-register-it/517570/25 "2009-11-16T22:16:04Z")
For the OP: A friend of the family (sort of an honorary grandfather) made his own shotgun out of a couple of standard plumbing pipes. You take a narrow pipe that just fits a shotgun shell, insert it into a larger pipe that just fits the narrower pipe and then weld a BB onto a cap on the bottom of the larger tube (as a firing pin). He even went a little overboard and put a camera mount on the cap so that it would look like a monopod for taking pictures, but you could turn it around and start shooting. Somewhere out there is a very silly video of him and some friends testing it and simulating the covert assassination of South American dictators (well, cardboard cutouts of said dictators) using their camera-pole/pipe-gun. In California, circa 1990, he was not required to register it and it was not illegal. However, laws change and I suspect that’s no longer true. For example, he had legally owned a WWII-era 20 mm anti-tank gun; changes in the laws around '95 meant he had to turn that over to the authorities because it was no longer legal to own. > [@Superhal](#): > > So, calling 911 for information is perfectly fine in my state. It may not be the whole state. Where I live (an unincorporated part of the county), they also ask us to dial 911 even for non-emergencies. A mile up the road (which is within a city boundary), that’s not true anymore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-made-my-own-gun-would-i-have-to-register-it/517570.md?page=1)