I understand the relative ease of two pins vs 21 minutes of work, but that's not the point I was addressing. My point is the legal definition of a given collection of parts can change based on their proximity and using the concept of an NFA firearm as an example. Additionally, the fact if they are purchased together or not isn't relevant, only if they are end up together. The kit, of course, starts off together, but if it were to be ruled a firearm if I bought them on my own and assembled my own kit it would also be a firearm.
However, the Court also explained that an NFA firearm is made if aggregated parts are in
close proximity such that they: (a) serve no useful purpose other than to make an NFA
firearm (e.g., a receiver, an attachable shoulder stock, and a short barrel); or (b) convert a
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complete weapon into an NFA firearm (e.g., a pistol and attachable shoulder stock, or a
long-barreled rifle and attachable short barrel). Id. at 511-13https://www.atf.gov/file/55526/downloadHeld, a firearm, as defined by the National Firearms Act (NFA), 26 U.S.C.
5845(a)(3), is made when unassembled parts are placed in close proximity in such a way
that they:
(a) Serve no useful purpose other than to make a rifle having a barrel or barrels of
less than 16 inches in length (e.g., a receiver, an attachable shoulder stock, and
barrel of less than 16 inches in length); or
(b) Convert a complete weapon into such an NFA firearm, including –
(1) A pistol and attachable shoulder stock; and
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(2) A rifle with a barrel of 16 inches or more in length, and an attachable barrel
of less than 16 inches in length.
I do not own any NFA weapons.
My house does not contain any NFA weapons.
I can buy a pistol upper from PSA and the above are still true.
If I take an existing rifle lower and put it in my range bag with the PSA pistol upper, it's no longer true. It's irrelevant if I bought them at the same time or not, only their proximity.
I'm not sure if it's still true if I store the upper in my garage, all my lowers are in my house, but don't own a pistol lower. The entire concept of NFA vs not NFA seems to get fairly arcane to me so I'm not sure where the blurry lines are.
That's not weighing in on if the validity of deciding the kit is a firearm or not, just pointing out the pre-existing parallels.