Constructive possession.

[Kaos116]

I spent this weekend with my sister and brother in law from Vermont. They both love to shoot. The conversation turned to how bad MA laws are and how vague they can be. My sister had asked a question that had me wondering.

If a MA resident has one pre-ban lower and a few post-ban lowers, how many pre-ban uppers can they have before 'constructive possession' might become an issue?

 

[vellnueve]

I would say 1, if you don't have a post-ban upper for each of the post-ban lowers. If you did have postban uppers for each lower, then I think you could easily defend having multiple preban uppers.

 

[JonJ]

Though this has nothing to do with firearms, it does address what would be considered "constructive possession".
COMMONWEALTH vs. GREGORY W. CARTER.

 

[Kaos116]

Though this has nothing to do with firearms, it does address what would be considered "constructive possession".
COMMONWEALTH vs. GREGORY W. CARTER.

If I read that right, it seems that if you have the potenial to make something legal out of the parts, it's ok. The parts he had were not a 'machine' and could be used for other legal purposes.

So, transfering that thought to the scenario in the op, One pre-ban lower would cover mulitple pre-ban uppers.

It appears from that case law, they assume you are NOT out to do bad. That's a twist for MA.

 

[KMaurer]

If all you have are post-ban lowers, having any pre-ban uppers would cause you serious problems. OTOH, as long as you have a single pre-ban lower, then any and all pre-ban uppers could be for that. The only problem would arise if you were to install one of those pre-ban uppers on a post-ban lower. I'd also be careful not to have everything locked up except a pre-ban upper and a post-ban lower, which might suggest some intent to put them together.

Ken