Homemade Guns Are Currently Legal, and Unregistered; Receiver Is Loophole in The Gun Control Act of 1968


ABC News Nightline: Guns built at home from kits bought online are increasingly becoming more popular and dangerous.

The goal of Dimitri Karras, CEO of Ares Armor, is to arm the people. His business sells parts to weapons, but does not sell any complete weapons. A loophole in the Gun Control Act of 1968 allows untraceable parts to be sold. The parts are assembled by the end user. And the crucial part of the weapon, "the receiver," is sold without being completely finished. The end user makes some modifications by drilling some holes, and "the receiver" because an actual receiver.

The Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA or GCA68), Pub.L. 90–618, 82 Stat. 1213-2, enacted October 22, 1968, is a federal law in the United States signed by President Lyndon Johnson that broadly regulates the firearms industry and firearms owners. The Gun Control Act primarily focuses on regulating interstate commerce in firearms by generally prohibiting interstate firearms transfers except among licensed manufacturers, dealers and importers.

Karras says he has sold about 75,000 unfinished receivers -- mostly online through his store.

The ATF says guns made from these parts are increasingly showing up at crime scenes. Los Angeles ATF Special Agent in Charge Carlos Canino says that these guns do not "tell a story" because the weapon is completely untraceable. The ATF is working to close the loophole -- sometimes by defining the unfinished receivers as too close to the real thing.