# NY AG threatening companies for selling "ghost guns". Isn't this perfectly legal in NY?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [September 23, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724 "2019-09-23T20:36:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/1 "2019-09-23T20:36:24Z")

</div>

[Here](https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2019/09/state-attorney-general-orders-ghost-gun-online-sellers-to-stop-sales-in-new-york.html) is the story:

> [@](#):
>
> NEW YORK – State Attorney General Letitia James announced today that she has ordered 16 websites to immediately stop selling “ghost guns” - kits of firearms components that allow buyers to assembly of assault weapons.
> 
> The possession, manufacture and sale of assault weapons is illegal in New York, but these companies have been providing the means to violate the state’s assault weapons ban, James said in an news release.
> 
> “These companies sell nearly complete, untraceable ‘ghost guns’ that allow individuals to create assault weapons, which are illegal in New York and endanger everyone in our state,” James said on Twitter this morning. “We won’t allow them to be built here.” …

[Here](https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/ghost_gun_cease_and_desist_letter.pdf) is the actual ‘cease and desist’ letter.

My understanding is that it’s perfectly lawful for a NY resident to acquire materials / components / parts and build their own rifle, even one based on an AR-15 lower receiver, so long as you don’t run afoul of the SAFE Act or various other pieces of gun control. Sure, [the end result is a goofy-looking thing](https://www.wideopenspaces.com/new-york-state-legal-ar15-video/), but it’s legal, isn’t it?

Why is the AG demanding that these companies stop selling legal items to NY residents?

Is she going to get reamed out by these companies’ lawyers? Or is she on firm legal ground here?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/2 "2019-09-23T20:42:45Z")

</div>

IANAL, and I really can’t comment on whether it’s legal or not, but it seems perfectly fair to say that forbidding people from owning a certain thing also means banning them the components to have that thing.

Imagine if North Korea said, “We’re not violating UN bans on nuclear proliferation by selling Syria all the components needed to assemble a nuclear weapon, since it’s not an outright nuke itself.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/3 "2019-09-23T20:49:36Z")

</div>

But the “components to have that thing” can also be assembled into firearms that are perfectly legal to own in New York. As a hypothetical, imagine that a state wanted to ban a certain 4-door pickup truck. There’s a two-door model that’s still perfectly legal. Is someone guilty of possessing “the components to have that thing” (the 4-door pickup truck) if they’ve got a rear axle that is used on both the 2-door and 4-door model?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mjmlabs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mjmlabs/32/69_2.png) [@mjmlabs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmlabs)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/4 "2019-09-23T20:59:12Z")

</div>

_Mens rea_. From the article cited:

> [@](#):
>
> James said the companies often specifically advertise their products as a way to evade law enforcement with phrases like, “if they don’t know you have it, they can’t take it."
> 
> \<snip\>
> 
> Aside from a fully assembled firearm, the lower receiver is the only piece that is independently considered a firearm and is thus subject to federal regulation. However, an incomplete lower receiver — lacking certain holes, slots or cavities — is not considered a firearm, James said.
> 
> These companies have been marketing their lower receivers as “80%” complete, in order to evade federal regulations, she said.
> 
> Purchasers on these websites must only make a few small changes with a common drill press to transform an unfinished receiver into a fully operational one. Once milled, the receiver may be readily assembled into an illegal assault weapon, typically unregistered and not branded with a serial number.
> 
> These companies call their products “ghost guns” because they are virtually untraceable. They do not require that the buyer hold a federal firearms license or submit to a background check.
> 
> Many of these sellers also offer for sale specialized jigs — or stencil-like precision tools that help guide a drill press — that are specifically designed to aid the milling process for a lower receiver.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Strassia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@Strassia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strassia)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/5 "2019-09-23T20:59:58Z")

</div>

> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> But the “components to have that thing” can also be assembled into firearms that are perfectly legal to own in New York. As a hypothetical, imagine that a state wanted to ban a certain 4-door pickup truck. There’s a two-door model that’s still perfectly legal. Is someone guilty of possessing “the components to have that thing” (the 4-door pickup truck) if they’ve got a rear axle that is used on both the 2-door and 4-door model?

Selling the common part would be probably be legal. But selling it as a kit that makes the illegal thing, that is the problem. Even if every part in the kit is used in a legal gun, selling the kit that makes the illegal device is still illegal.

Radar jammers are illegal in many states. Someone could build one out of off the shelf components. Each component is legal, but if you sold a kit with just the components and either include instructions or point to instructions, you are selling the illegal item.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/6 "2019-09-23T21:10:03Z")

</div>

What does “mens rea” have to do with it? It’s perfectly legal for NY residents to acquire a block of aluminum, mill it out, add an upper receiver, stock, trigger group, buffer tube, etc and turn those components into a firearm that is legal for them to possess in New York (at least, AFAIK). It’s certainly technically possible (and highly illegal) to use some of those same components, along with some different ones, to turn the same block of aluminum and various other components into an illegal machine gun or assault weapon. That doesn’t mean that the person / company selling the buffer tube, or rear sight, or whatever other component has any intention of aiding people in building machine guns or assault weapons or doing anything else illegal. Their intention is to assist people to build legal rifles. Someone may misuse their component to do something illegal with it, but that’s not the fault of the manufacturer or seller.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/7 "2019-09-23T21:13:08Z")

</div>

Seems like a conflict between federal and state law, with the NY interpretation being more restrictive. Whether the NY law runs afoul of the Constitution is for the courts.

The fact that the items are not firearms may actually make it easier for NY to ban them. By not being firearms, they don’t get the same protections and the state has more leeway in what steps they take to restrict them.

It’s clear the feds do not consider unfinished blanks to be firearms.

> **[Receiver Blanks | Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives](https://www.atf.gov/qa-category/receiver-blanks)**
>
> Answers to some common questions specific to receivers known as 80% receivers or unfinished receivers.

“Ghost gun” is a term a congressmen from my state came up with, in all of his ignorant glory.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/8 "2019-09-23T21:16:37Z")

</div>

> [@Strassia](#):
>
> Selling the common part would be probably be legal. But selling it as a kit that makes the illegal thing, that is the problem. Even if every part in the kit is used in a legal gun, selling the kit that makes the illegal device is still illegal.
> 
> Radar jammers are illegal in many states. Someone could build one out of off the shelf components. Each component is legal, but if you sold a kit with just the components and either include instructions or point to instructions, you are selling the illegal item.

That’s not, I believe, what these companies are doing. They’re not selling kits with “just the components” to make an assault weapon. The “kits” (80% lower and jig) can be used to make NY-legal firearms. Letitia seems to not understand this point. In [her press conference](https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2019/ag-james-pumps-brakes-online-ghost-gun-sellers-orders-cease-and-desist-sales-new), she said “There is only one purpose for the products that these companies are selling — to manufacture illegal and deadly assault weapons”, but she is wrong. There’s a completely lawful purpose for acquiring 80% lowers.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/9 "2019-09-23T21:19:30Z")

</div>

> [@Bone](#):
>
> Seems like a conflict between federal and state law, with the NY interpretation being more restrictive. Whether the NY law runs afoul of the Constitution is for the courts.
> 
> The fact that the items are not firearms may actually make it easier for NY to ban them. By not being firearms, they don’t get the same protections and the state has more leeway in what steps they take to restrict them.
> 
> It’s clear the feds do not consider unfinished blanks to be firearms.
> 
> [https://www.atf.gov/qa-category/receiver-blanks](https://www.atf.gov/qa-category/receiver-blanks)
> 
> “Ghost gun” is a term a congressmen from my state came up with, in all of his ignorant glory.

The state probably _could_ ban 80% lowers (I believe CA recently did / is trying to do this), but NY has not yet banned them, at least to my knowledge. There’s no NY law to run afoul of here (with respect to 80% lowers). It’s just the AG sending out a threatening letter.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/10 "2019-09-23T21:27:58Z")

</div>

> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> But the “components to have that thing” can also be assembled into firearms that are perfectly legal to own in New York. As a hypothetical, imagine that a state wanted to ban a certain 4-door pickup truck. There’s a two-door model that’s still perfectly legal. Is someone guilty of possessing “the components to have that thing” (the 4-door pickup truck) if they’ve got a rear axle that is used on both the 2-door and 4-door model?

Maybe. I don’t know guns enough. But this sounds like a clear case of letter of the law vs. spirit of the law. The spirit of the law is that there shouldn’t be privately owned assault rifles in New York, and people are blatantly trying to flout that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mjmlabs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mjmlabs/32/69_2.png) [@mjmlabs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmlabs)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/11 "2019-09-23T21:42:49Z")

</div>

> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> But the “components to have that thing” can also be assembled into firearms that are perfectly legal to own in New York. As a hypothetical, imagine that a state wanted to ban a certain 4-door pickup truck. There’s a two-door model that’s still perfectly legal. Is someone guilty of possessing “the components to have that thing” (the 4-door pickup truck) if they’ve got a rear axle that is used on both the 2-door and 4-door model?

If I’m advertising all of the materials needed to create the 4-door model, along with all of the instructions and some of the more specific tools to create the 4-door model, and my selling point is “they won’t be able to take your 4-door away if they don’t know you have it,” then one could very well impute that I’m knowingly furnishing you with the means to create the 4-door. That’s what _mens rea_ has to do with it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/12 "2019-09-23T21:49:27Z")

</div>

> [@mjmlabs](#):
>
> If I’m advertising all of the materials needed to create the 4-door model, along with all of the instructions and some of the more specific tools to create the 4-door model, and my selling point is “they won’t be able to take your 4-door away if they don’t know you have it,” then one could very well impute that I’m knowingly furnishing you with the means to create the 4-door. That’s what _mens rea_ has to do with it.

I reiterate: no one is doing that. No one is selling them “all of the materials needed to create the 4-door model”, or the firearm equivalent of it: an “assault weapon”. They’re selling a single partially-completed component. It’s not unique to assault weapons. It’s a base component that could be used in either an assault weapon or a perfectly-legal rifle.

ETA: and the alleged marketing tag-line didn’t mention assault weapons either. It said “it” as in “If they don’t know you have it, they can’t take it.” There’s no reason the “it” there can’t be a rifle that’s perfectly legal to own in NY today.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mjmlabs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mjmlabs/32/69_2.png) [@mjmlabs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmlabs)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/13 "2019-09-23T22:39:19Z")

</div>

Well, IANAL, but I trust that the members of the NY Att’y Gen’l’s Office are. So let’s take a look at the actual cease and desist letter:

> [@](#):
>
> To Whom It May Concern:
> 
> My office has reason to believe that you are engaged in the sale and advertisement to residents of New York of unfinished lower receivers and firearms components that are **intended for the assembly of assault weapons** , as defined by New York State law. N.Y. Pen. L. §
> 
> 265.00(22). **Assault weapons are illegal in New York, and the sale and/or advertisement of these products violates New York law**. You are directed to cease the sale and advertisement of these products to residents of New York within five (5) days of the receipt of this notice.
> 
> New York law criminalizes the possession, manufacture, sale, and transportation of assault weapons, which are defined as **any semiautomatic rifle that can accept a detachable magazine and has at least one of several enumerated secondary characteristics, including a pistol grip or a stock that folds, telescopes, or bears a thumbhole**. N.Y. Pen. L. §§ 265.00(22); 265.02(7); 265.10(1)–(3). Yet **those are precisely the purposes of the products that your website(s) appear to offer for sale to New Yorkers. Your website offers unfinished lower receivers that require simple milling in order to manufacture unregistered and unserialized assault weapons, despite the fact that such manufacture and possession are illegal in New York. Nor does your website adequately warn New York consumers that using these products in the manner for which they are intended and advertised could result in imprisonment and/or fines.**
> 
> The sale of such products to New Yorkers gravely endangers the public welfare by promoting the possession of illegal weapons and obstructing law enforcement investigations into the misuse of these weapons, and constitutes a criminal offense under New York State law. N.Y. Pen. L. §§ 115.00(1); 265.10(1)–(3). **These sales also contravene New York’s consumer protection statutes, which prohibit “repeated fraudulent or illegal acts” as well as “deceptive acts or practices” or “[f]alse advertising in the conduct of any business, trade or commerce.”** N.Y. Exec. L. § 63(12); N.Y. Gen. Bus. L. §§ 349, 350. \*\*Any misrepresentation or omission on your website that it is a criminal offense under New York State law to manufacture and/or possess assault weapons—the very purpose for which those products are intended and designed—is a deceptive trade practice that may subject you to disgorgement of all income resulting from such fraudulent and illegal practice, restitution to consumers, and penalties of up to $5,000 for each individual violation of Article 22-A of New York’s General \*\*Business Law. N.Y. Gen. Bus. L.  
> § 350-d. I hereby demand that you stop the sale and advertisement to residents of New York of **unfinished lower receivers and firearms components that are intended for the assembly of assault weapon** s. You should take all necessary steps to preserve all physical and electronic records and data pertaining to matters that are the subject of this letter. The information that should be preserved includes active data (readily accessible today), archived data (stored on backup media), and deleted data (still recoverable through the use of computer forensics). You should also take affirmative steps to prevent anyone with access to your data systems and archives from seeking to modify or destroy electronic evidence on network or local hard drives or servers.
> 
> Pursuant to Executive Law § 63(12) and General Business Law § 349, the recipients of this notice are afforded the opportunity to show orally or in writing to the New York State Office of the Attorney General, within five business days of receipt of this notice, why the Attorney General should not initiate an enforcement action. Such correspondence may be sent to [ghostguns@ag.ny.gov](mailto:ghostguns@ag.ny.gov).
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Letitia James  
> New York State Attorney General

[**bolding** mine]

If you’re a NY resident and you take issue with this, I recommend that you contact your elected representatives. Winning points on an internet message board will not provide the injunctive relief you seem to feel is in order. Good day, Sir.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/14 "2019-09-23T23:15:36Z")

</div>

The proper response to “I hereby demand that you stop the sale and advertisement to residents of New York of unfinished lower receivers and firearms components that are intended for the assembly of assault weapons” is “the blocks of aluminum we sell are not ‘intended for the assembly of assault weapons’, so kick rocks, hippy”, or something along those lines.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/15 "2019-09-24T01:11:08Z")

</div>

Ok

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/16 "2019-09-24T01:56:24Z")

</div>

Relabeled their intended use as a marajuana drugs bong. Hippies understand that, ammirite?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/17 "2019-09-24T01:57:50Z")

</div>

Never mind.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/18 "2019-09-24T02:18:22Z")

</div>

I guess rules lawyering is only for gun owners.

I remember well several debates that had to do with Blue states changing tax laws to allow citizens to make 100% tax deductible donations to the state, for the express purpose of evading Trump’s tax law limiting deductions of state and local taxes.

“Ho ho ho, just wait until the IRS says you can’t make such end runs around the law!” said some posters, barely containing their glee that transparent attempts to undermine the conservative agenda of sticking it to libs would meet with a governmental smackdown.

Now we see the rules lawyering explicitly applied to a law regarding guns, and suddenly finding ways to undermine valid laws is as good clean fun as blowin’ shut up. Yee-haw.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/19 "2019-09-24T02:36:50Z")

</div>

> [@Ravenman](#):
>
> … Now we see the rules lawyering explicitly applied to a law regarding guns, and suddenly finding ways to undermine valid laws is as good clean fun as blowin’ shut up. Yee-haw.

People in NY today can and do purchase stripped AR lowers (essentially a 100% complete lower receiver). It’s perfectly legal, and no more a violation of NY’s ban on “assault weapons” than the 80% lowers.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724/20 "2019-09-24T02:43:41Z")

</div>

> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> ETA: and the alleged marketing tag-line didn’t mention assault weapons either. It said “it” as in “If they don’t know you have it, they can’t take it.” There’s no reason the “it” there can’t be a rifle that’s perfectly legal to own in NY today. […]
> 
> The proper response to “I hereby demand that you stop the sale and advertisement to residents of New York of unfinished lower receivers and firearms components that are intended for the assembly of assault weapons” is "the blocks of aluminum we sell are not ‘intended for the assembly of assault weapons’ […]

I’ll venture a guess that the NY AG’s office managed to figure out that someone might try that response, and thought their position vis-a-vis the relevant laws was strong enough to justify sending the letter anyway.

It seems that what you’re looking for here is an ironclad legal opinion on whether their position is justified. I don’t know whether you can find such an opinion here (or anywhere for that matter, until the courts have chewed over the issue), but in the meantime I don’t think you’re going to get anywhere with suggesting naive objections to the AG’s position that they’ve probably already considered.

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-threatening-companies-for-selling-ghost-guns-isnt-this-perfectly-legal-in-ny/840724.md?page=2)
