Do You Have To Register Am-15

If you decided to build an AR-15 or other firearm using an 80% lower or receiver blank, your first question is probably, "Does information technology need a serial number?" Common sense says this would effectively negate any benefits or conveniences of using an 80 lower to build an AR-15 or other gun, considering and so you're just throwing in paperwork and government bureacracy. Let's respond the most mutual questions and we'll embrace how you can serialize an 80% lower by pick, or if it's required in your country.

Does an 80% Lower Demand a Serial Number?

In most cases, yous do not need to serialize your 80% lower, fifty-fifty after building your rifle or pistol. Under federal law, any individual building a firearm at home for personal apply does not need to mark their firearm with a serial number. The ATF still recommends you engrave a serial number if you always plan on selling your homemade firearm after.

When does a receiver need to have markings or a serial number?

Federal law requires a firearm to need a serial number only if information technology has been manufactured or sold past a licensed dealer or Federal Firearms Licensee, per 27 CFR § 478.92, Firearm Manufacturers Marking Requirements. This doesn't apply to individual builders making a firearm for personal use.

Which states require an eighty% lower to have a series number?

California and Connecticut crave all firearms to have series numbers, including fourscore% lower receivers before they're cut and drilled, making them a firearm under those states' legal definitions. California Neb A.B. 857 requires that all firearms in the land either have a unique serial number engraved, or that they be destroyed. Connecticut'due south legislation requires all firearms and firearm blanks, including unfinished fourscore% lowers, to have unique serial numbers engraved before they're made into a firearm. Another states may require serialization, likewise, and so check your local laws.

If you lot're in that camp, have note. This guide covers how to serialize an 80% lower, receiver, or frame to assist ensure your bootleg firearm is legal.

lxxx% Lower Serialization Requirements

Federal police force provides certain standards for serializing a firearm. States similar California, which require serialization, have adopted those same federal standards. To meet the standards, your 80% lower, frame, or receiver's markings must:

Be engraved at least 0.003" into the material.
Have a minimum text size of no less than 1/16" in summit.

The engraved markings must include the post-obit information:

Model of the firearm (if chosen or described)
City and country of manufacture (where yous alive)
Quotient or approximate of the firearm (cannot be "MULTI")
Manufacturer's commencement and last name (that'southward you)

How to Serialize an 80% Lower in California

A.B. 857 went into effect July i, 2018. That means any self-made firearm with no serial number that may exist after this date would demand to exist destroyed. That as well means you need to employ for a unique series number through the state'south Department of Defense. You lot need to submit to a groundwork bank check (called a PFEC) and receive a serial number and engrave it on your lower or frame earlier you fabricate it into a firearm. Hither's how it's done.

Footstep 1: Download, Fill up Out, and Submit PFEC Application

The PFEC, or Personal Firearm Eligibility Check Awarding, is California's version of a federal background check for a gun purchase (NICS). The PFEC goes off the California criminal database, not the federal one. Y'all need to download the awarding here, make full out in ink, notarize it, and submit it to the CA DOJ:

What to Submit With PFEC

The PFEC requires you likewise submit:

An impression of your right thumbprint on the application.
A copy of your California driver's license or state ID card.
A $20 bank check or money order made payable to "CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE."
A notary signature and seal placed on the PFEC awarding past a California public notary.

You can curl your thumbprint yourself using fingerprinting ink, or a local police force section or public notary tin assist.

Mailing the PFEC Application

Mail service the PFEC and all listed items with it to:

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Agency OF FIREARMS - PFEC

P.O. BOX 820200

SACREMENTO, CA, 94203-0200

Once you mail your application, it will take effectually 30 agenda days for your application to be reviewed by the California DOJ. The DOJ recommends you wait until your PFEC application is approved before submitting your adjacent application for your firearm'due south unique serial number.

Questions?

If y'all require assistance with the PFEC Application or take additional questions, you can contact the California Department of Justice help line at 916-227-7527, or electronic mail them at firearms.agency@doj.ca.gov.

Footstep 2: Submit a Digital CFARS Awarding

Adjacent, you lot need to make an account on the California Firearms Application Reporting System (CFARS) Website. This is where you'll fill out a digital application and submit payment for requesting a unique serial number for your firearm.

NOTE: Before filing on CFARS, you must accept completed a California Firearm Prophylactic Certificate Programme or possess a Handgun Safety Certificate number.

Once on the CFARS website, click on "Create a CFARS Business relationship". It will bring you to a disclaimer.

Read the disclaimer, and click "I Agree." Yous'll exist brought to the registration folio.

Fill up out your personal information, email, and undercover questions and responses. Enter a unique password, click "I'm non a robot" and click "Submit." Once you've registered, check your email for your username. Navigate back to the CFARS website, and log in.

On the dashboard, expect to the left-paw side and locate the Unique Series Number Application (USNA). Click it.

Read through all of the instructions on the first folio. Information technology provides information for mailing a copy of your driver'due south license or ID card, and some important state laws governing homemade firearms. Scroll to the bottom, and select the option about appropriate for y'all:

On the next page, read through the Unique Serial Number Application Private Notice, and check the box labeled "I Hold" at the bottom:

One time you've agreed, continue to the next section: Applicant Data. Make full out your personal information every bit information technology is displayed on your land-issued ID.

The next department is the Firearm Information section. Do not fill this out until reading the instructions beneath.

The only required fields are:

Firearm Type
Firearm Color
Date of Manufacture
Material

DO Not put today's appointment under "Engagement of Industry".

California state law does non allow yous to fabricate your firearm until your USNA application is approved and the serial number has been engraved on the frame or receiver. A all-time practice is to put a engagement that is thirty calendar days from today.This gives the California DOJ time to process the application and provide you with your serial number, in addition to the take it will accept you to notice an engraver and take the serial number engraved. If your application is canonical and your series number is engraved in, say, xx days instead, you tin can still build your weapon.

Optional fields should not be filled out. They aren't required and adding data in those fields volition simply increase the chance your application is rejected. Once you lot've enter your firearm's basic data and all other personal information, click "Preview." This will bring you lot a last review page:

On the final review page, take a second look at all the personal and firearm information y'all entered. Verify all information is correct, click "Concur" at the bottom, and click on "Submit Final" to submit your USNA application. You'll be brought to a payment processing folio where yous're required to submit a $15 payment for the awarding using a credit or debit card.

What Happens Next?

California DOJ takes at least fifteen agenda days to procedure your Unique Serial Number Application. Once canonical, you'll be notified via electronic mail and y'all'll receive your series number for engraving.

IMPORTANT: You must have your serial number and other markings engraved on your lxxx% receiver or frame within 10 calendar days. Approval of your USNA application is considered day ane. Information technology'southward a skilful idea to achieve out to a local gunsmith, machinist, or engraving service before or as before long every bit you submit your application. That style you can schedule fourth dimension to have the service performed inside 10 days. This is important considering you must submit proof of the engraving to the California DOJ by uploading a digital epitome of the finished engraved markings on the CFARS website.Otherwise, your series number and application volition exist retroactively rejected and you'll need to submit another application for a new serial number.

Engraved? Fabricate Your Firearm!

In one case your serial number is engraved and a photo has been uploaded of the finished results to the CFARS website, you may now legally cutting, drill, and fabricate your 80% lower, receiver, or frame into a firearm. This guide ( Legal Requirements for Self-Made Firearms) clarifies the certain restrictions and configurations your newly minted weapon can or cannot utilize under land law.

Quick Epitomize

That was a lot of information to pour through, especially if y'all're a California resident. Here's a quick summary and recap of everything discussed:

Under federal law, an 80% lower or homemade firearm does not need to be engraved.
If y'all ever sell your finished lower-equipped gun, ATF recommends (only doesn't require) serializing it.
If you live in California, you need to take a unique serial number for your eighty% lower or homemade gun.
In California, you need to submit a notarized PFEC (background check) application by mail with a $twenty payment.
In California, you need to also submit a digital USNA awarding and pay a $15 fee via debit or credit card.
In California, employ your approved USNA and assigned serial number to engrave your receiver or frame.
Engravings must include the serial number, model, your name, and where yous made your weapon (city, state).
Engravings must measure at least 0.003" deep and measure at least 1/16" in acme.

DISCLAIMER: If you are new to the world of DIY gun building, y'all probable have a lot of questions and rightfully so. It's an surface area that has a lot of questions that, without the correct answers, could have some serious implications. At AR-15lowerreceivers.com, we are by no means providing this content on our website to serve equally legal advice or legal counsel. Nosotros encourage each and every architect to perform their own research around their corresponding State laws likewise as educating themselves on the Federal laws. When performing your own inquiry, delight exist sure that you are getting your information from a reliable source.