{"id":116968,"date":"2026-05-24T03:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T08:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=116968"},"modified":"2026-05-24T03:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T08:29:14","slug":"116968","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=116968","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Court Rules 2nd Amendment Covers Firearms Parts, Good News for Those Who Build Guns<\/a><\/p>\n

What used to be a fringe hobby in the firearms world, building or customizing your own guns, is increasingly popular.<\/p>\n

So, Wyomingites welcome a ruling by the federal 10th\u00a0Circuit Court of Appeals, stating that the Second Amendment could apply to the buying, selling and possession of firearms parts without serial numbers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

AR-15 style rifles in particular can be built or customized to owners\u2019 liking, using parts and accessories that can be purchased over-the-counter or ordered online.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like Barbie dolls for men. It\u2019s all about accessorizing,\u201d firearms enthusiast Nic George of Sheridan told Cowboy State Daily.<\/p>\n

Court Rules On Colorado Case<\/h2>\n

At issue is whether the purchase, exchange and possession of firearms parts without serial numbers fall solely under state commercial regulations, or has Second Amendment implications.<\/p>\n

The 10th\u00a0Circuit Court on April 23 ruled the latter, Casper Attorney Ryan Semerad told Cowboy State Daily.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Therefore, if charges are brought against somebody in connection to firearms parts, they could possibly challenge the case based on their Second Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

Semerad said prosecutors can\u2019t make a winning argument if they contend the case doesn\u2019t bear on the Second\u00a0Amendment.<\/p>\n

In June 2023, Colorado enacted a law prohibiting the purchase, sale, transfer, and possession of un-serialized firearms, firearm frames or receivers, and the like, according to 10th Circuit Court\u00a0documents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree Individual Plaintiffs\u2014Christopher Richardson, John Howard, and Max Schlosser\u2014and two nonprofit Associational Plaintiffs\u2014National Association for Gun Rights (\u201cNAGR\u201d) and Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (\u201cRMGO\u201d)\u2014sued the state for violating their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms,\u201d according to the court.<\/p>\n

A district court erred when it concluded that the Colorado law didn\u2019t implicate that Second Amendment. Because it does, in fact, implicate it, the 10th\u00a0Circuit Court decided.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a blanket prohibition, that it is illegal to sell or possess these sorts of gun parts, that is a matter of the Second Amendment,\u201d Semerad said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government can\u2019t just say, \u2018it has nothing to do with bearing arms,\u2019\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u2018Like Purchasing The Whole Gun\u2019<\/h2>\n

Custom-building firearms wasn\u2019t a\u00a0wild West,\u00a0unregulated venture to begin with, said George, who\u2019s been doing it for decades.<\/p>\n

The process starts with buying a part that bears a registered serial number. That\u2019s usually the action and trigger mechanism for a bolt-action rifle, or the lower receiver on an AR-15, George said.<\/p>\n

An AR-15 lower receiver contains the trigger mechanism, safety and magazine release.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery firearm has at least one part that is\u00a0aregulated piece. The piece without which it won\u2019t function. That\u2019s usually where the serial number goes,\u201d George said.<\/p>\n

To buy that part, a\u00a0person\u00a0usually must go through a licensed gun dealer and pass a background check.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just one part, but it\u2019s like you\u2019re purchasing the whole gun\u201d from a procedural and legal standpoint, he said.<\/p>\n

From there, buyers can add whatever barrels, sights and other parts and accessories they wish.<\/p>\n

Years ago, gun enthusiasts had to have expensive equipment, like lathes, to make parts such as barrels in their own shops or garages, George said.<\/p>\n

Now, parts such as pre-made barrels are readily accessible at reasonable prices, he said. So, it\u2019s becoming more common for people to build their own hunting rifles, for instance.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s Extremely Popular\u2019<\/h2>\n

AR-15-style rifles are essentially the king of modular firearms, Joshua Kinderknecht, the owner\u00a0of Wyoming Tactical Firearms and W.T.F. Silencers, told Cowboy State Daily.<\/p>\n

Plenty of people still go into shops or gun shows and buy finished rifles. However, given the abundance and availability of AR-15 parts and accessories, there\u2019s a trend toward building your own, Kinderknecht said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extremely popular, so it\u2019s good to know (about the 10th\u00a0Circuit Court\u2019s ruling),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Once a gun owner has the lower receiver with the serial number on it, the possibilities are practically endless, he said.<\/p>\n

There are a wide variety of barrels and stocks of various lengths to suit shooters\u2019 want and needs, Kinderknecht said.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s an AR-15 lower can be matched with more than one upper receiver and barrel assembly, each chambered for a different cartridge, he said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s like having several rifles in one, Kinderknecht said. All the owner has to do to switch calibers is move the lower receiver between the various uppers, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got one AR lower that I have three different upper receivers for. It\u2019s really handy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Court Rules 2nd Amendment Covers Firearms Parts, Good News for Those Who Build Guns What used to be a fringe hobby in the firearms world, building or customizing your own guns, is increasingly popular. So, Wyomingites welcome a ruling by the federal 10th\u00a0Circuit Court of Appeals, stating that the Second Amendment could apply to the … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,36,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-courts","category-gun-schtuff","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116969,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116968\/revisions\/116969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}